Project REN
by Goddess Calamity
Summary: Kyoko Mogami was given a simple task; hack LME's mainframe and steal a certain file. R.E.N. is a recently activated AI who wants to learn what it means to be human. Thrust together by forces unknown, will Kyoko be able to give Ren what he wants?
1. ID:Slicer

**Standard Disclaimers Apply**

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**Program R.E.N. Activated/**

_**.**_

Kyoko stared dejectedly at her smoking computer, if the scene hadn't been so pathetic Kanae would have laughed. Kyoko Mogami had long had a… deficiency… with technology. Basically anything that used electricity and looked even slightly complicated had a habit of… not working correctly (to put it lightly). The Company had already had to replace five different desk tops in the two years she'd been working here, and said desk tops had gone through extensive repairs, manytimes before finally biting the bullet.

Kanae coughed, fighting the rising hiccup of laughter. Correction _six_ computers, this one did not look like it was going to be revived.

As Kyoko's eyes traced the wisps of smoke drifting out of the vents she groaned, "Nooo… I just lost all my paperwork! I spent hours on that stupid report for that stupid stupid Tsuchibara deal… _What am I gonna do now?!"_

Kanae Kotonami felt a small stab of jealousy, even at times like this when she lost everything and started whining she _still_ managed _somehow _to get her work done and turned in to the higher ups in pristine condition, like she'd had weeks and not hours to redo the damn things. She rolled her eyes, "Haven't you learned by now? Backups you idiot! You need backups! It'll save you a lot of time and trouble."

"But Miss Moko, I don't know how to do that stuff remember how long it took just to get me this far?"

Kanae winced both at the nickname she'd had since age 3 (when they first met) and the memory of introducing Kyoko to the world of technology, computers to be exact. _That _had not been a pretty encounter. Several computers had met their terrible and smoky end (like now) at the fingertips of Kyoko Mogami. "Well, not like it matters, your work is always exemplary anyway. Just a suggestion, you may actually sleep at night if you learned."

It was Kyoko's turn to wince, she wasn't looking forward to another sleepless night, and the documents were due _tomorrow… _but at the same time she couldn't risk taking the time to learn how to use backup disks, no telling what disasters could befall her with _that _little adventure. She shook her head, "not worth the risks," she mumbled.

Kanae fought back yet another bout of hysterics, keeping her face as neutral as possible. Kyoko sighed and glanced at her, "I know you're trying not to laugh, no matter how good you are at acting, you've never been able to hide what you're feeling from me Miss Moko." With that, Kanae gave in and started laughing, uninhibited. She already knew it was futile to hide her feelings, since she had met her, Kyoko had had a strange ability to sense others' feelings. Kanae supposed she'd be called empathic, strange as it sounds Kanae stopped doubting Kyoko's claims that she could feel what others felt when, no matter what she was doing or how schooled her face was, Kyoko could always see straight through any act.

She was most receptive to the anger 'vibes' as Kyoko called them, and boy when _Kyoko _was angry… Kanae mentally shivered and ripped away from that train of thought, very much sober now. Kyoko gave her a questioning look, sensing the mood swing. Kanae shrugged and said, "I'll go tell Mr. Ogata we'll need yet another computer for you. You're lucky he likes you as much as he does, I think even he would have fired you by now if he didn't."

Kyoko gave a wry smile, Mr. Ogata was soft spoken and often took a back seat to others around him, however underneath the 'pushover' façade was a will of steel, if needed. Kyoko _was _lucky that she was liked by the handsome executive, it was her high quality work and insightful input that kept her around. It was also her unique 'ability' which got her into some of the high profile meetings and projects her company held, after all knowing an opponent's emotions gave her employers a huge leg up. Yes indeed, once she'd proven herself to Mr. Ogata time and again she'd become an indispensable commodity… albeit a high maintenance one.

"Thanks Miss Moko, if he asks tell him I've gone home for the night. I'll have to recollect data and rewrite this damn thing for tomorrow." She stood up and walked out of her little office, giving one last sheepish glance at the dead monolith on her desk before leaving. It was an older computer anyway, Mr. Ogata stopped buying high end computers for her after the third one kicked the bucket and simply bought cheap dinosaurs that got the job done.

Out in the parking garage Kyoko turned her attention from where she was walking, to the inside of her purse searching for her keys. An idea that proved to be a bad one when she ran into someone walking into the building she had just left. The resulting collision sent her to the ground, purse and miscellaneous items flying everywhere.

Stuttering apologies and crawling on her hands and knees to reclaim her stuff, Kyoko then ended up bumping heads with the one she'd run into. Looking up she made to apologize again, only to come face to face with someone she really did not want to deal with.

Hikaru Ishibashi was grinning stupidly back at her. She could already feel his will to flirt with her oozing off his body in waves. It made her nauseous.

From the first time she'd met him, Hikaru had tried time and again to go out on a date with her, and though there was really nothing wrong with a guy taking a liking to her… it was his misfortune that he had fallen for her when he did.

Kyoko had sworn off guys not long before she met him, and she still disliked interacting with them. Ever since _He _had gone and done-

Kyoko shook her head briskly, best to twist away from that train of thought before she got angry… no telling what damage she could do in a garage filled with high end cars.

"Mr. Ishibashi, what a coincidence! Forgive me for running into you I couldn't find my keys!"

Hikaru's smile widened, he held up the elusive aforementioned keys, dangling from a tinkerbell keychain. "You talking about these?"

Kyoko's eyes widened, and a grateful smile graced her face, making her goldish brown eyes sparkle, "Tink!" She cried out, and snatched the keys from Hikaru's hand and scrambled to her feet. "Thank you very much Mr. Ishibashi but I really must be going, I lost my work again today and now I must start again from scratch."

Hikaru's face grew somber, he knew her stint with computers, "I guess that means you can't hang out tonight huh?"

Well, give the guy points for persistence. Kyoko thought with mild irritation. "Sorry but no Mr. Ishibashi." She turned to race off, and Hikaru's voice called out behind her:

"Next time then! And I told you, call me Hikaru!" Kyoko only waved in response not slowing down. Hikaru shook his head sadly, that chick was a tough nut to crack, he'd have to try harder it seems… not that he hadn't already been trying 'harder' over the past three years.

**.**

Kyoko was listening to the radio as she drove home, a very dangerous thing she knew but she loved music to much to completely give it up, regardless of consequence. She bobbed her head to the beat, humming along to the lyrics. Her mood soaring with the song.

No, she could never give up music, regardless of the big stain it had in its industry.

Abruptly the song cut off, interrupted by a disembodied voice declaring breaking news. "This is breaking news, apparently Slicer has struck yet again." Immediately Kyoko focused on what the news announcer had to say. "Armadillo Industries just announced that last night at midnight the Slicer managed to hack into the mainframe and steal a prototype security program they had been working on in total secrecy. This top of the line security program was one of a kind, and apparently Armadillo must now start from scratch because the Slicer managed to inject their mainframe with a virus that grows the more it devours. According to Executive William Devuer, nothing survived. Details on what the security program is capable of, however, is still under heavy wrap. We fear that with this advanced piece of technology under the Slicer's control, the task of catching the hacker has just gotten much harder." And with that somber end, the music came back.

Kyoko snickered, what a bunch of morons! They didn't stand a chance.

She parked in front of her condo, still suffering from the occasional bout of giggles as she turned off the BMW and got out, approaching her door. Pulling out her keys she unlocked the heavy wooden door and stepped inside, immediately she was run to the ground by Corn, her immense golden retriever.

After receiving her customary slobbery bath, and shaking with genuine laughter Kyoko managed to push the big boy off and roll to her feet. Running a hand through his silk spun golden fur Kyoko walked into her living room. It was simple really, a stairwell leading to the bedrooms and bathroom was on her right, a kitchen with a counter and cabinets parting it from the living on her left. The walls here a light blue, the carpet a slightly darker shade of blue and the couch and lazy boy a shade of grey. The wall directly across from her had sliding doors that led to a small backyard, she opened those doors to let Corn out and then turned to the wall to her right, a small smug smile on her face. Hanging from said wall was a 72 in. DLP flat screen TV. She was very proud of it, and on the stand under it (along with assorted DVDs and Cds) was a black modem with a red alien head on its front, the ALX X58. Now _that _was her baby, the latest and greatest technology had to offer… albeit with some extra tweaking from Kyoko to make it even _better. _Kyoko turned that all powerful modem on, and then turned on the TV she'd rigged it up to.

Collapsing into her Lazy Boy, she withdrew her keyboard with the mouse touchpad attached. She probably could have gone with something that looked more high tech (like everything else) but she had to admit to herself she loved the sound and feel of the old fashion keys clicking beneath her fingers.

An evil smirk crossed her face, the identity of the Slicer would forever remain unknown. After all, who could ever look at Poor Technology Deficient Kyoko as a potential suspect? She was quite comfortable in her security. Her smile (if possible) became even more mischievous, especially now that she had that new security program by Armadillo. Apparently it was a learning program. The more it encountered, the better it worked, the more efficient it became. She had only just got the thing and already it was taking a quick tie for first with her modem, _that's _how good the damn thing was, and security was of the utmost importance to a hacker. Because she loved it so much she had dubbed the program Prince.

There was a loud beep from her speakers and she looked up at the screen. A black window had opened up, on it was a simple one word message.

_Ready? _

Like a bolt of electricity, adrenaline washed through her body. She loved her less-than-legal job, the excitement, the thrill… and her very dependable Source. Nothing got past her mysterious partner, and tonight they had something big. Very big.

The theft job for Prince last night had been nothing more than preparation for the job she was going to do now. To hack the mainframe she was targeted she needed the best of the best protection she could get, and Prince was it. Her Source didn't want to give her details on what exactly she was taking, he (or she) said it was best left as a surprise.

But it was no doubt going to be big, After all LME was an elite company dealing with technologies decades ahead of where the world stood now.

Kyoko rubbed her hands together and typed her response into the window.

_Ready!_

_Alright Slicer, _came the immediate reply (neither knew the other's identity, just a cautionary measure), _activate all your security programs and false sigs. Your gonna need to pull out all the stops. Even someone as good as you will be hard pressed to make it out with this job. But trust me, this is well worth it._

Kyoko smiled again, _Already done. I've been looking for a challenge, wanna tell me what I'm stealing?_

A short pause then: _You won't believe me until you see for yourself. Let's go._

And with that Kyoko started the long process of hacking the LME mainframe. There were quite a few nasty surprises, but Prince took out all opposition admirably. She had to admit, this was the most dangerous thing she'd ever done. But finally…

_I'm in, tell me what to take._

_Wait for it this isn't going to be easy. What you need to take is huge, and very complicated. Not to mention delicate, find the most heavily protected file and wait for my signal. You'll need my distraction for this one._

Kyoko did as told, searching until she came across something that made her eyes nearly pop out her head.

Oh it was very, _very _big. And getting into it would be like trying to get into Fort Knox, and every soldier was armed with a bazooka.

That was nothing compared to the size of the thing being protected though. It was huge, a network of complicated files and subroutines… just glancing at its code, the makeup of the thing she was after… well, it was going to take a _lot _of memory. Yikes.

_GO! _The bright red message flashed across her screen, and Kyoko didn't hesitate. Most of the security around Fort Knox leapt after another perceived intruder, that would be her Source.

Prince took care of the remaining defenses, and just like that Kyoko had her virtual hands wrapped around hernewest prize, she immediately started the process of downloading the thing from LME's mainframe onto her computer, and uploading a virus that would destroy any remaining blueprints or clues as to who had been there, and where the complicated program went.

Then something unexpected happened, something or _someone _found her and tried hacking her. Kyoko bit back every swear word she knew, trying to fend off the attacker while still trying to get the program onto her managed to fend the interloper off for several seconds, but whoever found her was very skilled, and very good at what they did. They had almost gotten past her defenses and discovered who she was when swearing she pulled the cord to her internet connection.

It took her a moment to realize that, even with the connection cut, something was still loading on her computer. She unleashed another string of curses, wondering if the bastard had managed to hack her after all and leave a virus. She watched, completely helpless at this point.

**Install Process Initiated…**

**.**

**Installing Physical Management Coding to your system… Complete. **

**.**

**Installing Subconscious Algorithms to your system… Complete **

**.**

**Installing Main Consciousness Matrix to your system… Complete.**

**.**

**Installing Main Personality Matrix to your system… Complete. **

**.**

**Main Installation Complete **

**.**

**Project R.E.N. Initiating…**

**Activation Complete.**

Kyoko stared in horror as her entire screen went blank following the extensive download, it showed nothing but white. Then slowly, an image began to form, many colored pixels started melding together forming black loafers, followed by white pants…

… Wait, _what?!_

Kyoko's eyes grew wider and wider as she followed the pixels' progress, feet… legs…_long legs, _she couldn't help but think, then a torso clad in white business suit and blue tie… arms… neck…

Kyoko's heart froze as the pixels finally finished forming the figures face. Everything seemed to freeze as she looked over the digital being, he (for it was certainly male) wore a very business like white suit with a gray shirt and dark blue tie. Blonde hair fell to his shoulders and the left side of his face. His eyes were closed.

Slowly, Kyoko's own systems seemed to reboot. Taking a deep breath, and feeling her heart restart, she let out a long sigh. Relief flooded her as she collapsed back into the chair. No virus, she had gotten out in time and apparently gotten the thing she was after but…

"What exactly are you supposed to be?" She asked, she wasn't' expecting an answer… She got one anyway.

Slowly his eyes opened, and Kyoko's heart stopped for the third time that day. Bright blue eyes stared out at her from the screen, seeming to see straight through her. He opened his mouth and suddenly a deep heavenly voice came through her speakers

"Robotically Engineered Neuro- Intelligence. You may call me Ren."

Kyoko fought the urge to faint, choking on the air in her lungs and fighting to clear the shocked fog from her brain.

No way…

_A goddamn AI?!_

**/To Be Continued…**


	2. Real or Not

**Standard Disclaimers Apply: Ah, and if anyone has a better sounding acronym for R.E.N. I'd gladly take suggestions! And anyone who is actually computer savvy… please don't laugh to hard if my fic sounds… off. Unlike Kyoko, I really AM computer retarded.**

**________________________________________________________________________**

**:Restart/**

Located somewhere in the U.S.A. was a building, a monster of a sky scraper that was all stainless steel and glass. Hallways shot off from the main body and connected to four other building at 90 degree angles to one another, walking along the east corridor was one Yukihito Yashiro. Now at first glance Mr. Yashiro would seem rather calm and collected, with a brisk yet steady tread, and the occasional habitual movement of pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose with his middle finger.

Closer inspection would reveal the sheen of sweat on his brow and the slight shake in his hands.

Oh yes, Yukihito Yashiro was _nervous_, and not the 'speaking in front of a big crowd' nervous, oh no. This was a 'just lost a multi-million dollar project that was super top secret and now must report theft to the big boss' kind of nervous.

No one wanted to be in his shoes right now. Hell, _he _would have given anything to not be in his shoes right now. He got into the elevator in the main building and hit the button that would take him to the top floor. It was a two part trip, 25 floors in one elevator, then another 25 in another. The LME building was simply too tall for one elevator shaft to span the entire thing and by the time Mr. Yashiro stood in front of the President's office there was no denying the fact that he looked rather… petrified.

He kept running over the events of one hour previous, over and over again beating himself up every time he found a point where things could have gone very differently. Too late now, he winced and knocked on the door.

"Enter," Called out Lory Takarada, and Yashiro opened the door and stepped in, closing it behind him. When he finally looked at his boss he winced again, his whole body going stiff.

The president was wearing a business suit. This was bad, _very _bad, President Takarada _never _wore those 'stuffy suits' as he called them. Yashiro surreptitiously glanced around, hoping to find a hole he could crawl into and never come back out of. None appeared.

Lory Takarada leaned forward, steepling his fingers before him and tapping his lip. His face seemed pensive, but the look in his eyes was grim… and angry. "What exactly happened, Yashiro? Ren was under the best guard there is. Hell, Ren isn't even known by the rest of the world. So… _How the hell did Slicer get him?" _Though his voice was calm, there was a hardness to it that was far worse than a shout.

"We believe the Slicer had an accomplice sir. No way a hacker like him could do this without inside help."

"Inside help…" Lory eyes unfocused, drifting upwards, "Impossible. Three people know about Ren, you, me, and Ren's creator, and I know Kuu wouldn't want his precious AI stolen out from under him."

Yashiro shifted nervously, once again pushing his spectacles up his nose, "I know that sir, but _someone _knows, there is no denying this was planned. The Armadillo heist, then this. And the Slicer had help last night, some kind of distraction while the Armadillo Sec program took out all remaining protection."

"Tell me everything that happened up until the theft last night." Lory returned his gaze to Yashiro, hard and calculating. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Yashiro took a deep breath and began…

**:Replay/…**

"Everything checks out. You're fully operational, I don't understand how you can be feeling under the weather Ren."

Ren's avatar closed his eyes and sighed softly, rubbing his temples. "I do not understand, Mr. Yashiro. I do not feel well, yet all my subroutines are working perfectly. There is nothing wrong with my code, I would know. Even still, I cannot shake this feeling."

"Can you identify the emotion that plagues you, Ren?" Yashiro asked, slightly perplexed.

Ren stood from his virtual chair, and paced across the screen, it was a massive three panel affair, with each end panel set at an angle from the center one. Ren currently paced the left panel. "I have already told you that I am unsure. I am… uneasy. Restless perhaps, could accurately describe it."

Yashiro frowned, since Ren had been activated, his personality had taken on a life of its own, as was intended. He was generally calm and collected, never before had he ever exhibited signs of stress like now. "What is the cause of this, Ren?"

Ren frowned and with thumb and forefinger, rubbed his temples. "If that were so easily answered Mr. Yashiro, we would not be having this conversation."

Yashiro ground his teeth, the AI was right… like always. "There must be a reason, trace it to its source Ren. This is unusual for you."

Ren then paused, his avatar going very still, seemingly staring at nothing. "Mr. Yashiro, what does it feel like… having a body?"

Yashiro was taken aback by the unexpected question, however he never got a chance to answer as at that moment a warning siren along with red flashing lights filled the room they were in. Yashiro ran to the keyboard, and pulled up the main windows.

Ren's avatar froze, looking around with his eyes. "Mr. Yashiro, it seems we have uninvited guests. Two of them."

Immediately Yashiro started taking action, tracing the point they entered, and attempting to lock onto their locations. "What can you see Ren?"

"One has attempted to bypass my security, they are attempting to delete it. The other… has already managed to get a lock on me. They are using that strange sec program from armadillo. Mr. Yashiro, you may want to hurry, she has started to download my code and is unleashing an unknown virus into the system." Through all of this Ren's calm façade never faltered.

Yashiro let loose a string of curse words, willing the computer to hurry up, finally it traced the culprit and locked on. Yashiro immediately started to hack the insurgent, attempting to discover his identity, and block him from Ren.

"Mr. Yashiro I'm afraid-" Ren's silken voice cut off, and Yashiro looked up in horror. Ren's profile was dissolving into the many pixels it was made up from, and disappearing somewhere into cyberspace. Desperately Yashiro tried to stop it, tried to snatch the Hacker's ID signature, however before he could get to it, the Slicer simply disappeared. "Damn it!" He yelled, they had cut there internet connection. No way to trace them now… and Ren was gone.

**/Replay: End**

"That's everything. As to the Slicer's identity… it's still unknown. I was able to halt the virus and destroy it before it got anything… sensitive" Yashiro said.

President Takarada sighed, "put together a team of our best men. This company's top priority is to find the identity of that hacker and his accomplice, understood?"

"Yes sir!" Yashiro leapt for the door just before he left, the president said one last thing:

"As for Ren's concerns… how goes Phase II?"

Yashiro paused long enough to say, "in its final stages sir." Then left to recruit some of the greatest minds in the world.

**.**

The Fairy King glared down at her with righteous fury, and Kyoko felt lower than dirt under that heavy sapphire gaze.

"It's… nice to meet you, your highness…" Kyoko breathed.

An odd look passed over Ren's face before it settled into its neutral mask, "You have very advanced technologies here… yet no cameras." He stated blandly.

It was Kyoko's turn to make an odd face, "Why would I need… ah! You can't see!"

This time there was a frown, "So the Slicer is female, Mr. Yashiro will be shocked to hear he was bested by a girl."

Kyoko became slightly irritated at that, "I'll have you know some of the greatest minds in the world are female!"

Ren sighed, closing his avatar's eyes, "I have yet to see one. This is the first I've ever heard one. It is… different."

Kyoko stared at him in wonder, "Ah… um, if you don't mind… how- how old are you?"

Again an odd look crossed his face, but he understood what she was trying to ask, "I was activated one week three days and fourteen hours ago."

Surprise colored the young girl's voice, "That young? But you look…"

Ren sighed again, wondering why this girl kept… humanizing him, "this is simply an avatar, a digital image my program displays. This is what I was made to look like the day I was activated. Why have you taken me from LME?"

Kyoko paused, she didn't really have a reason, other than the thrill. She was still on her adrenaline high, after all she was talking to an Artificial Intelligence… something she had thoroughly believed only existed in sci-fi fairy tales. She couldn't help the next question that left her mouth, "are you _real?"_

Another look twisted Ren's features, and Kyoko wanted to pull her hair out. Intelligent it may be, but for whatever reason she could not feel the program's emotions regardless of how real they seemed. She realized she had come to depend on her sixth sense entirely too much. "That… I do not understand what you mean by this question. My program exists, otherwise I would not be here speaking to you. You have yet to answer my question."

Kyoko fidgeted sheepishly, "well… I'm not sure. I didn't know what I was taking till it was done. Now you're here… and I don't know what's next."

Ren's piercing glare sliced through Kyoko's body, "so you were not the one who planned this."

Kyoko quickly shook her head, then realized Ren could not see the action. "No my Source is the one who outlined everything. I just… did this for the thrill…"

Kyoko's heart stopped, Ren was _not _happy, if that face said anything… he was pissed. At her. That was scariest damn thing she'd ever faced, and he didn't even have a body! "Give me your name, and the identity of this accomplice."

That tone brooked no argument, "K-Kyoko… I do not know who the source is."

Ren's dark look grew pensive, suddenly several windows on her computer opened up. She realized he was searching for anything and everything regarding her and her compatriot. Kyoko gave a small sigh, at least there were no photos on her computer, he'd never be able to visually identify her. She also kept all sensitive information off that computer for situations like this… well, not _quite_ like this but, you get the picture.

When Ren realized this irritation colored his voice, "you are cautious. Very wise with your line of work. However I have a first name and a workplace. That should be sufficient to identify you."

Kyoko gasped in surprise, "how-" Ren interrupted her, his avatar holding up several digital papers. Kyoko groaned, the back up documents she needed for tomorrow… she had forgotten about the show at work today… it seemed like another lifetime, not mere hours before.

"You work as a secretary of sorts at an entertainment industry. A well known one. It should not prove hard to track you down."

Kyoko growled, finally losing her composure with the miraculous piece of technology before her, "such information is useless to you with no way to leave my mainframe. You're stuck here."

Ren ran a thorough check of her computer, but of course she was right. She had cut off the computer's access to the internet, he was left with no choice but to wait. It was a good thing Ren had lots of patience. "In the meantime I have complete control of your computer. We are at a stalemate."

Kyoko sighed, "will you at least let me print those documents, I need them for work."

Ren shrugged and immediately her printer hummed to life, spitting out four or five sheets of paper. "I have all the time in the world, Ms. Kyoko. We will see what happens."

**.**

A shrill ringing filled a small room, making its single occupant jump in surprise. Muttering about bad timings under his breath, he answered the phone.

"Yes, what is it I'm busy."

There was a wry chuckle at the other end, "Kuu, it's nice to hear from you as well."

Kuu's eyes widened slightly in surprise, "Lory? What is the matter? …Is it Ren?"

There was a sigh, Kuu did _not _like that sigh. "Kuu, tell me, are you aware of the Slicer? A professional hack-"

"Don't say it." Kuu ground out. "Lory, Ren is protected by state of the art technologies, no one knows about him."

He heard Lory grind his teeth, "he had help Kuu. Someone found out and helped him take Ren." There was a brief hesitation, "listen Kuu if you…"

"Nonsense Lory, I always let you know when I am up to something. Please tell me you are doing everything possible to get my son back."

"Son? Is that how you refer to him? What does Ren think of that?"

"…" Ren didn't approve of Kuu's overbearing nature, no need to let Lory know that though. Sadly, he caught the hesitation.

"That's what I thought, Kuu he is an AI, he may think, speak and act like a human but he's not-"

"Don't say it Lory." Kuu bit out, "you of all people should know better than to think like that. From the earliest stages of production Ren proved time and again to be more than just the code that made him."

Lory fell silent, understanding fully what he meant. "Creating a being is one thing, giving him a body is another. Before he was taken Ren had shown signs of… malcontent. Keeping him in a computer is no longer enough Kuu."

"…I'm working on it. Find Ren." He hung up, and turned back to his desk top. A Small smile danced across his face. Now lets let the story start. He thought.

**:To Be Continued/…**


	3. Unknown Variable

**Standard Disclaimers Apply: I guess I'm doing something right somewhere! Thanks guys! Ah, and to Nefetari Moon: Prince is an OC… it's a learning program but I have yet to decide if I'll let it develop to the point of AI like R.E.N. And to Tuli-Susi… have you read all skip beat yet? Ren is naturally blonde haired and blue eyed. (sorry for the spoilers)**

**If you wanna a link to a pic of what he looks like with blonde hair and blue eyes, here ya go! Props to whomever did this… Deviantart .com/art/Skip-Beat-Kuon-115663386**

_**And to all of you, thankyouthankyouthankyou for the awesome reviews!**_

_**________________________________________________________________________**_

_**:Restart/**_

Ren was examining the Armadillo Sec program's code, trying to decipher the extent of its abilities. It was able to bypass LME's stringent securities so it was not to be taken lightly.

He immediately noticed certain parallels with his own programming. Impressive, though it was certainly no where near to the point of self awareness as he was, it was still capable of learning and expanding itself, adapting to whatever environment it was used in. He knew it would be invaluable to the hacker, someone with her skill could mold this thing till it was unbeatable.

He toyed with the notion of destroying it, perhaps saving the code to his memory banks for reproduction later. After a second's thought he rejected the idea, best try to profile the female before taking drastic measures.

He turned his attention outward, and irritation flooded his consciousness, bad enough being restrained in a cramped space, now he couldn't even see, his already restrictive world just narrowed a bit more. The issue of blindness, however, was an easy problem to fix.

"Ms. Kyoko, I would appreciate it if you would buy a webcam. I do not like being… blind."

Kyoko was silent a moment, "I don't think that's a good idea, giving you eyes would give you ammunition. That's the last thing I wanna do…"

Ren sighed, she was correct of course. He could feel his ire rising more as time passed, this situation was no good. Once again he spread himself through out her computer, trying to manually access the internet, or find something- _anything_ in the damn computer that would give him more information about the girl or her accomplice. The mission was a failure.

The feeling of… restlessness, he believed it was returned in full force. He was already so very restrained, all he had to link him to the world outside was sight and sound and one of the two had been taken from him.

"Um… perhaps we could make a compromise. I'll give you sight if… you don't use what you see against me?"

Ren's thought processors hitched in surprise, what he was feeling must have leaked to his avatar's face, for her to suggest such a thing. He thought it over, weighing consequences and advantages. In the end his comfort won out. "Agreed," he said, "I will not report what I see, when you install the webcam."

Kyoko questioned her sanity, putting so much trust in the words of the AI. Really she couldn't help it, he had the face of a Fairy King. Surely one of such noble repose was a trust worthy individual… right?

Miss Moko was right, anything at all that reminded her of princes, princesses or sprites was going to be her downfall. The being before her fit into the category of ruler of all those beings. She let Corn, who had been whining at the door a while, back in. He gave her an appreciative lick and she giggled apologizing for leaving her beautiful golden dog prince outside so long.

Ren's avatar cocked an eyebrow, "you… really like fairies… and royalty, don't you?"

Though he couldn't see it, Kyoko's eyes grew big and sparkly dreaming of all things pretty and bright and elegant. "Miss Moko calls it my vice!" She said happily.

Ren cocked his eyebrow, irritated he couldn't seethe strange individual before him. Were all females like this? "You say this like it is a good thing…"

"It's true they're my weakness but surely one so beautiful as yourself must truly be their King!" She went on happily oblivious to the look Ren was giving her.

Ren's face was wide eyed with total shock. There was something a bit… off about this girl's personality. _And wouldn't the proper word be _handsome_? _He shook his head, "are all females like you?"

Kyoko paused, and for once looked at the avatar's face. She blushed cherry red when she realized how far off in her own world she'd been right in front of this god like AI. She was grateful he couldn't see… for now.

"U-um, no… Miss Moko says I'm one of a kind." She said.

Ren noted the slightly more… sober tone to her voice, "I… see." Curiosity got the better of his program, causing him to ask a question he realized he may not want an answer too, "and what makes me… the _king _in your strange world?"

Kyoko's red face became an even deeper shade, she was starting to rethink the deal to give him eyes, "W-well… your eyes, and your hair… your face, you just… I dunno, have the bearing of a king…" She answered hesitatingly.

Ren found himself feeling something new, he thought it over for a moment before identifying the emotion: _amusement. _This girl was… Funny. Of course Mr. Yashiro had tried to joke with him in the past… but he could never understand what was so funny about blonde haired females with low IQs and he had a hard time following the strange word play associated with Mr. Yashiro's favorite jokes. And President Takarada he simply found strange… not funny. What kind of high end executive (with no small amount of power) cosplays random anime and video game characters every day while at _work?_

"Have you never seen an American before?" He asked her.

That caught Kyoko off guard, of course she'd seen her fair share of Americans. The company she worked for had branches in America and representatives often came to the meetings she attended. Some had had light eyes or light hair, and all of them were in business suits (often expensive stuff like Armani) however, though she was sure all of them were well known and well off, none of them carried themselves quite like the image before her. Projection he may be, but the mind behind it was real enough, and he obviously had no small amount of pride and dignity, and carried himself accordingly. His voice didn't help her delusions any. It was like crushed velvet and molten gold… deep and soothing. Kyoko thought she could lose herself to the ebb and flow of his words.

Admittedly she was slightly jealous of that voice.

"I work with Americans occasionally… wait." Realization hit Kyoko, "you're from America? You speak fluent Japanese!"

Ren gave a small nod, "I can speak 32 different languages fluently," he said blandly.

Kyoko's jaw dropped, were there even that many in existence?! "Whoa… amazing! What else are you capable of?"

Ren gave a small sigh, "My potential is limitless. I do not have the restrictions you do. Simply program me with the knowledge and I can perform said task flawlessly."

Kyoko cocked her head, "program? Can't you learn?"

"Of course, however, even for one such as myself learning takes time. Especially learning things as complex as other languages."

Something about the way he stated that last sentence prompted the next thing Kyoko asked, "Are there others like you? Artificial Intelligence I mean."

Ren froze, his face took on a very terrifying look. One that made Kyoko want to leap out of her skin and run screaming for mercy. It's funny… how such a radiant smile could be so crippling. She wondered offhandedly if maybe she could sense his emotions… if they were the violent kind. "No, I am the only 'artificial' intelligence out there. One of a kind I assure you."

Kyoko gulped, catching the slight inflection on the word 'artificial'. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say… very wrong. She started trying to back pedal, "w-well what I meant was- that is when I said 'artificial' I-I didn't mean 'fake' or anything like that! I ju-" Kyoko broke off her failed attempt at reconciling her poor choice of words. Ren's face was back to its neutral look, seemingly uncaring.

"It does not matter. Perhaps I am only artificial, after all I was made by humans." His avatar sat down in a maroon recliner that popped up out of nowhere.

Kyoko kept mentally bashing herself over the head with a huge mallet, chanting 'idiot, idiot, idiot' with every hammer blow. "Everyone is made by humans, haven't you been told where babies come from?" She said offhandedly, too distracted by her mental beating to really pay attention to what she was saying.

Shock once again seized Ren's mental processors, this woman was truly something else… never did a thing he would expect. She also gave him a different perspective on his existence, even if the words leaving her mouth were just babble. "I was never an infant."

"Then you got to skip some difficult stages in life. You didn't miss much." she responded wryly. She looked him over, apparently whatever she'd said had lifted the tension. She breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at the time. Immediately letting loose a mild curse, "I have to go to work in four hours! Sorry Mr. Ren but should I leave the modem on?"

"I have a sleep mode that I can enter. It does not matter." His avatar relaxed into the recliner, and closed those piercing ocean blues to the world. He spoke once more, "We will continue this tomorrow, after you acquire a webcam. I cannot reside in your computer indefinitely, it is a gross waste of my time, and abilities."

Kyoko bristled at that, slightly insulted by his words before realizing that, insulting as they were, they were true. After all, aside from conversing with him, what the hell was she going to do with him? Kyoko frowned, she couldn't even get in touch with her source with him on there…

"Goodnight, Mr. Ren." Was all she said before heading upstairs with Corn.

**.**

Kyoko bowed deeply to Mr. Ogata, apologizing again and again for the computer she'd (un)intentionally demolished the day before. Mr. Ogata simply shook his head, a soft smile playing across his slightly feminine features, "It's okay, Miss Kyoko I have already replaced it with another. It is old and slow, but you should still be able to use the word processor."

Kyoko smiled, after Mr. Ogata had figured out buying expensive computers was nothing but a waste with her and started buying the cheap models his irritation at her 'problem' had turned to amusement. She was fully aware of a pool for how long each one would last. Many times she'd rigged it so certain people won or lost. This time she was pretty sure she'd timed it right so that Mr. Ogata himself had won, after all she had to pay him back somehow for all those computers.

"Thank you, Mr. Ogata. Was the report for the Tsuchibara deal satisfactory?" Kyoko knew her late night speaking to 'R.E.N.' had effectively painted the picture of a sleepless night of hard work replacing the documents she'd lost.

"Indeed, Miss Kyoko as usual your prowess astounds me. Now I have a meeting to attend in 15 minutes, please excuse me."

As he walked away Kyoko asked, "Do you want me there?"

Mr. Ogata shook his head, "This is a simple meeting, we're simply crossing T's and dotting I's." He left.

Back in her office Kyoko looked over the new computer, it would be slow but it had internet access. Time to ask her Source what the hell they were up to.

She logged in, waiting impatiently for the damn thing to start up. For once she regretted destroying those computers as now she had to deal with this slow junk pile. After 7 agonizing minutes she was finally able to access her instant messenger. As always her mysterious partner was on.

**Princess Rosa: **You made me take an AI!? Are you insane? What exactly do you expect me to do with him?!

There was a short pause then:

**Demon Medium: **Ah so you were successful? I figured as much when you never came back online.

**Princess Rosa: **how the hell you expect me to do anything? The moment I give him access to the web I'm screwed! What on earth did you want me to do with him?

**Demon Medium: **safe keeping. Tell me… is it truly as great as I've heard?

**Princess Rosa:** keeping for what?!

**Princess Rosa: **And he's phenomenal. Give him a body and you'd never know the difference.

**Demon Medium: **Ah… so he is everything I expected and more. With a being like that AI under our wing we could do anything.

**Princess Rosa: **never refer to him as AI, he is called R.E.N. He does not like the term 'artificial'… at all.

**Demon Medium: **interesting, point noted. So it considers itself male? I would very much like to see him myself but that will have to wait.

**Princess Rosa: **what do you want with him? How can you expect to use a self aware being like that? He has his own will and he's not happy… I may be in big trouble here.

**Demon Medium: **you know so little. Earn 'Ren's' trust. I have confidence in your abilities… it's why I chose you.

**Princess Rosa: **earn his trust?! For WHAT? I am not using a real live person for anything! It's wrong, immoral.

**Demon Medium: **then it's a good thing I don't care. you'll befriend him, its what you're good at. Leave the rest to me.

**Princess Rosa:** I disapprove of this! hacking into other comps and stealing info or items is one thing, but he is not a 'thing'

No response came. Kyoko felt her anger rise;

**Princess Rosa:** Damn it! Answer me! What the hell are you up to?!

Still nothing, Kyoko ground her teeth thoroughly pissed off. A vase filled with bright colorful flowers on her desk started to crack, the hairline fracture traveled from the bottom of the vase to the center, and it kept expanding, webbing out to cover more of its surface.

Kanae walked in, breaking Kyoko's train of thought and the cracking immediately ceased. However, Kanae saw what happened and winced, "should I come back later?" She asked.

Kyoko smiled, sensing Kanae's nervous vibes. "No, it's okay… just a difficult client is all," she forced a laugh, closing out the window with her conversation and opening one that had the beginnings of another report. This one regarding the German branch representative and his suspicious behavior. He was suspected of laundering.

"Did you get that paperwork finished after all?" She asked.

"I did Miss Moko," She smiled, "perhaps this one will be the one to survive?"

Kanae shook her head, "how many years has it been? Don't count on that Kyoko…" She gave a small smile, "you're doomed I think."

Kyoko smiled, "you have no idea…" She felt a cloud of foreboding hovering over her head.

**.**

Ren was trying to analyze his situation. So far all he was accomplishing was irritating himself. What he had so far:

He was no longer in America, rather located somewhere in Japan. He had no way to access the LME mainframe and get in touch with Mr. Yashiro, President Takarada, or even Kuu. The woman who took him had no idea what she was taking till it was done, or why she was sent to retrieve him. That thought brought him to his most pressing problem, the other one.

The girl herself seemed nice enough… if not a little naïve (which was amazing considering her prowess with computers) however if this source of hers was the plan maker, the leader… he needed to know what the hell he- or she- was up to, and how s/he knew about project R.E.N. in the first place. Kyoko admitted herself she had no clue as to his/her identity or what he wanted, that made the anonymous man-or woman- a dangerous unknown.

He saw only one answer to the problem, and it was not going to be easy;

He had to convince Kyoko to give him access to the internet, so he could get in touch with Yashiro or Kuu. Then he could track down the 'source' through her computer and turn him-or her- in. He was sure he could convince President Takarada to let Kyoko go, she was fairly harmless… maybe he could even convince them to hire her. Searching her computer he could already tell she was an adept at manipulating technologies.

The only issue with his plan was Kyoko herself. Could he convince her to give up her partner, then entrust her well being in another being she'd never met before… never even knew could _exist _before last night?

Ah, well he was going to find out. Ren could have sighed… if his avatar was running (which it wasn't at the moment.) This could take awhile… time he wasn't sure he had anymore… too many variables for his own comfort.

Suddenly he felt the computer turn on, he immediately activated his avatar, and interfaced with the speakers. He could hear a dog bark happily and a door slide open. "Ms. Kyoko?" He asked.

"Of course Mr. Ren! How was your day?"

Ren was half tempted to roll his eyes, an action Kuu often did when exasperated, "it passed."

Kyoko fought a blush, of course it was boring! He was stuck in her computer with nothing to amuse himself. She was just trying to cover her apprehension really…

She had always trusted the Source, never before had he let her down, since that first fateful meeting they had been a successful pair of hackers, ruling the internet and the Ethernet. But now after that earlier conversation, she was slightly worried…

Miss Moko often said she trusted too easily, apparently even after _His _betrayal, she still had not learned. She bit her lip, burying the turmoil and rising anger. She looked up at the ethereal form of R.E.N. on the screen before her, though he gave off a constant aura of aloofness and neutrality she could also sense something beneath… a discontent with what- or even where- he was.

Guilt stabbed her, reminding her of the package in her hand, "Ah! I have the camera Mr. Ren, shall I install it?"

"Just hook it up, I can do the rest." Eagerness flooded his thought processors, finally he could see the one he was dealing with… he had only ever seen one woman, a picture of President Takarada's grandchild Maria Takarada. She was just a young child though, what did a full grown woman look like?

Kyoko's hands shook lightly as she opened the box, pulling out the high end gadget and its USB cord. She was about to give this unknown man sight… she truly was insane.

A small part of her couldn't help but wonder what he'd think of her… she quickly squashed that bit mercilessly and hooked up the web cam, setting it in a strategic place where he could swivel and see the whole of her living room. Her heart was in her mouth.

Ren knew the moment the foreign technology was connected to her computer. He didn't waste time installing it to her computer and integrating it to his subroutines. The process took less than a second.

Ren opened his eyes to his new world.

**:To Be Continued/…**

This story has taken hold of me and won't let go till I finish it! …eep! don't kill me for ending where I did, don't worry at this rate you wont have long to wait for chap. 4!

I'm having a harder time with Kyoko's personality in this fic (I'm rather unhappy with the first part of this chapter, I can't make it flow right)… I think she's being awfully OOC, however as tough as _Ren_ is to keep in character… I think I'm doing a pretty fair job… maybe…

Meh, though I'll admit Kuu is a master manipulator in this fic (I wont say how)… he is not the Source, to answer some of my reviewers' questions. But I wonder if you CAN figure out who it is from this chapter… hmmm? Hee hee hee…

Oh and if anyone is willing to beta, let me know… I often miss mistakes when I'm typing as fast as possible… and I hate mistakes.


	4. Mastermind

**Standard Disclaimers Apply: Hm… My reviewers have a good point, no one is sure on whether or not Kuon has blue eyes… so here is why I think they are; When Kyoko first saw him, her first impression of him was 'fairy' not anything remotely human. Now as a child living in Kyoto (with the… very large imagination she had- ahem-has) you'd think she wouldn't see very many Americans (or any other nationality that had light hair/ eye coloration) but she HAD to be aware of hair dye (because a lot of people dye their hair… I think) so blonde hair alone couldn't have contributed to her 'fairy' Corn, however if she'd never before seen light eyes... The child may not think it a normal 'human' eye color. Ah, and both my parents have dark eyes… but my sister's eyes are blue so that's also possible (the whole recessive gene thing, a boring conversation to get into) But it IS just my opinion, I am sorry for the assumption.**

**To Golden Meliades… chyeah, totally seat of my pants…**

**Thanks again for your awesome reviews… *sweat drop* the pressure is on to keep this thing good… I like challenges!!**

**Okay ridiculously long a/n, sorry!!! I hate those too… **

**_______________________________________________________________________**

**:Restart/**

Kuu stood with his arms crossed, staring at the huge three panel screen before him… the very empty three panel screen.

"What exactly were you doing Yashiro? Picking your nose?" He asked gruffly.

The Japanese man standing next to him grimaced, though Kuu was generally good natured, when it came to his 'son' anything goes, "they must have been able to fool the alarms long enough to get close to his program… they didn't go off till it was too late."

Kuu scowled, "someone that skilled…"

"My team is working 24/7 trying to trace him. It's only a matter of time really, Ren himself will probably be able to get in touch with us sooner or later. He has a mind of his own, and an ability to navigate and manipulate computers like no 'human' can…"

Kuu kept the scowl on his face, inwardly he was trying not to laugh at Yashiro and his 'great team'. The information they were so desperately seeking, he already had.

Oh yes, Kuu knew exactly where his son was, and the identity of the one who took him… but there was no need to tell Yashiro this. Ren was safe for now, and Kyoko Mogami was harmless… no the one he was after was even more clever than that girl. And definitely not so harmless. He would let things rest as they are… after all, in order to catch your prey, you must have satisfactory bait…

"What of Phase II, Yashiro?" He asked suddenly.

The Japanese shook his head, "all work on Phase II has been suspended. The search for-"

Kuu whirled around, glaring at Yashiro, "Why?"

Yashiro took a small step back, occasionally Kuu really could be quite intimidating, "There is no sense continuing without Ren himself to-"

Kuu waved off what he was about to say, "It is not a matter of whether or not Ren is here. I want it done by the time Ren returns." Without giving Yashiro a chance to speak again, Kuu left.

**.**

In an office on the top floor of the same building, sat a man with long silver hair. He was wearing a red hoari and hakama, and tapping his long fingernails impatiently on his desk. He glared at the clock on his wall. _Damn it Kuu…_

And as if on queue, the door opened and Kuu stepped in. He froze, staring at the one at the desk.

"What the hell took ya so long? Damn it what are you up to, Kuu?" The figure asked.

Kuu kept staring. Slowly he lifted a hand, and pointed at the man, "Dog ears…" He said in a half whisper, then as if broken from a trance, Kuu started laughing. He laughed so hard and so loud he had to wrap his arms around himself because it felt like his insides would fall out.

President Takarada scowled, "Get it together, idiot. What are you up to?" He asked again.

Slowly, the fit subsided and only the occasional giggle snuck through. He wiped his eyes, "Lory old friend, you keep getting better at this…" He trailed off at the president's glare… it wasn't part of the cosplay. He sobered up immediately, "Lory I told you last night, I don't have anything to do with Ren's disappearance."

Lory set his lips in a firm line, "you aren't telling me everything though, Kuu. I can always tell when you are up to something."

Kuu shrugged, "maybe I know a little more than you do… for now. But I know what I'm doing. I've never let you down before, have I?"

President Takarada shook his head, "You're playing with fire."

Kuu looked out the window behind Lory, a thoughtful look adorning his features. "Fire it may be, but it's a problem that needs to be taken care of. Before things get ugly."

Lory shook his head, "with you, things always get worse before they get better."

Kuu smiled, there was no mirth behind it, "this will make all our other… _adventures_ seem like walks in the park. Things are about to get very nasty."

Lory sighed, Kuu always knew what he was doing but he couldn't shake the ominous feeling that filled the room.

If Kuu said things were going to get nasty, that meant full scale disaster was imminent.

"Tell me everything." That tone left no room for argument, Kuu obliged.

**.**

His avatar was frozen half way through the act of seating itself. The normally icy stare seemed slightly fogged over.

Kyoko stood in front of the web cam, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt and fighting the blush that insisted on creeping up her face. Several seconds had passed, with no outward reaction from Ren… well with the exception of his frozen avatar. Kyoko swallowed, trying to sooth her suddenly dry throat, "M-Mr. Ren? Is the camera w-working properly?" she asked.

Her voice seemed to awaken the frozen sprite. He finished the action of sitting down, his face carefully neutral. "Women are… different from men." Was all he said.

Kyoko gave a small genuine smile, "of course, we are known as the fairer sex." She said softly.

He responded with a faint, "Indeed." And left it at that. There was an uncomfortable pause, before Ren spoke up again, "I have something I wish to discuss with you." His sharp eyes and business like tone were back.

Kyoko responded to this immediately, "Yes Mr. Ren? …Actually I had something to tell you about as well."

They spoke at the same time, "it's about my/your source."

Both of them paused, neither really surprised at the other's topic… well Ren was slightly surprised, but what else could she really want to discuss with him? The weather?

"Go ahead Mr. Ren." Kyoko said.

Ren nodded once, watching her face carefully, "I would like you to restore internet connection and allow me to get in touch with LME." Well, he thought, no use beating around the bush, to use Mr. Yashiro's words.

Several emotions flitted across her face, her bronze eyes remained guarded but he could tell she was seriously considering his words. With a jolt of surprise he realized something must have happened to her at some point today to make her have a drastic change in attitude towards both himself, and her partner. He'd had quite enough surprises for one day, some of his analyzing programs were still trying to identify the powerful emotion he'd felt upon seeing her face. Yet another part of him did not want to find out what it was.

He forced himself to focus when he realized she was speaking. "I do not know if that is a good idea." She said slowly, "honestly, it's out of concern for myself that I keep you away from them." Her eyes told her shame at taking him, but they also seemed unwilling to back down from her choice. He sighed, of course this wasn't going to be easy. Nothing ever was.

At least she was honest.

"Please trust me. You have no clue as to this person's identity, nor do you know 'why' he wanted me. You didn't even know what it was you were targeting until you'd taken me. It's too suspicious." He never let his gaze stray from her face. There was a war going on behind her eyes, she knew he was right. Her will to trust him was tempered by her fear of being caught and punished. Ren frowned, they'd known each other less than a day and though her nature seemed to be of a trusting kind this just had too much on the line for her.

He had one option, but he was loath to implement it as it would put him completely at her mercy. If he allowed that security program of hers to pass his own automatic defense systems it would give the security program easy access to his core, the code that made up his consciousness. If he made one move she didn't like, she could make the security program stop him… and that thing was advanced enough to deal some heavy damage. It frayed at his nerves, to make such a drastic move but he didn't have a choice. He at the very least, had a firm belief she would never do anything to hurt him unless he did something to warrant it. Maybe not even then as well. He was placing an implicit amount of trust in her good judgment. _Prince _as she referred to it, would probably be able to wipe out his primary operative systems, but he was sure it could never do anything to his back up systems.

"Ms. Kyoko, I have a compromise for you." Ren reluctantly told her of his idea, "perhaps we will wait to contact LME until we have formed a relevant level of trust in each other. In return for this I would appreciate it if you avoided contact with your partner until we come to a mutual decision on how to approach this."

Kyoko did not take his proposal lightly, a part of her could sense how hard it was to place the trust he did in her. She nodded once, firmly. "Okay Mr. Ren, we have a deal." She considered her next words carefully, wanting to alleviate some of his obvious concerns, "I will set explicit commands for the Sec program, it is not to make any move unless you attempt to access the LME mainframe, and even then, it will take minimal action necessary to stop you."

Ren's avatar looked at her for a moment before finally allowing the barest twitch of his lips. The girl hadn't let his expectations down. Kyoko was already sitting in her lazy boy with her keyboard in her hands opening the security program's commands screen.

As she worked she told Ren of her earlier conversation with her partner. She figured his show of trust had to be reciprocated properly, so she held nothing back. And while the information made his suspicions grow, it also soothed him a bit. They had some time after all, according to the source of the problem itself. He was giving them time.

Several minutes later, Kyoko returned internet access to her computer. Ren felt his world expand into the limitless possibilities of the world wide web. He held up both his hands, calling forth a window which automatically opened to her AOL page between them. Ren immediately took note of everyone on her friend's list.

"Which is the one? I can trace the link to their computer and have their identity in seconds."

Kyoko immediately shook her head. "Demon Medium is probably better at this than I am, s/he will certainly have tight security around such important information. It's not a risk worth taking for now."

Ren nodded letting it go. The girl was right, and though he doubted anything with code could prove a challenge to him, he was sure that those of flesh and blood would always be stronger. "What then shall we do?"

Kyoko frowned in deep thought, what to do in order to build trust and friendship? On the web the sky was the limit… she doubted that someone as noble as Ren would lower himself to hacking, a pass time she thoroughly enjoyed, especially when pulling pranks on unsuspecting major businesses, or powerful people.

Nope, Mr. Ren would most definitely not agree to making several buildings' lights turn on and off so that they formed words or pictures to those on the outside looking in, or sending emails of some of the more… interesting you tube videos to all those stuffy suits high up on the metaphorical food chain of life.

She looked up and startled a bit, apparently Ren had decided to make the first move. He tossed the window he'd been holding between his hands to the top left corner of the screen, the opened up a window filled with code. Kyoko realized that the complicated set of numbers and letters belonged to 'Prince'. She cocked her head, "Mr. Ren what…" She trailed, eyes going wide. He was _adding_ something to Prince's program, Kyoko tried to see what exactly he was doing but Ren was moving at an inhuman pace. She gave up trying to follow, deciding to wait instead.

After a few seconds Ren stepped back, he looked satisfied. He held up a hand, palm forward into the white empty space in front of him and suddenly (quite in the same way he himself popped into her life) a pixilated image started to form. It had four legs and it was furry.

Kyoko gasped in delight, it was a big black dog. "Mr. Ren, you gave Prince an avatar!" she said excitedly.

Ren nodded once, placing one hand on the dog's head. "I deduced that with a personality such as yours taking such an action would… please you."

Kyoko smiled, big and bright. The NI (she never ever referred to him as 'AI' anymore, not even in the safety of her own mind) had only known her a day and it already had a strong grasp on how she was. It was slightly intimidating. She watched the dog as it lay down on the white floor before Ren, wagging it's tail leisurely.

Then she realized why said black dog looked so familiar, "It's a black furred Corn!" She exclaimed.

Ren nodded again, "Corn is the only dog I have ever seen, so he was the only model I had. Does this bother you?"

Kyoko shook her head a small smile on her lips, "Not at all, I was just making an observation really." An idea came to her, "say! You have never seen a lot of things in this world right? Why not search images and video of all the things you are curious about?"

It was Ren's turn to shake his head, "I do not see things as you do. I cannot see the 'images' the codes create… only the codes themselves. Otherwise I would have already explored many aspects of this world." Kyoko could just barely detect a note of glumness to his voice. Her heart went out to him, what was it like? He could not 'feel' or 'smell' as she could. He never experienced hot or cold, though he had an avatar, she doubted that was the same as having an actual body. That brought her to another thought; what of movement? Every morning she loved to give her body a long languorous stretch… he could never enjoy such a small pleasure. Did he even really know what it felt like to move an arm or leg? To really hold things? She watched his hand travel over Prince's head, could he even feel that contact? Obviously there wasn't really any fur there, there wasn't even an actual solid body. For either of them.

She asked him how he was able to speak on impulse, Ren was taken slightly aback but he seemed to follow her train of thought non-the-less. The glumness she'd detected earlier took on a sharper note. "Kuu, my 'creator' if you will, said it was one of the most difficult aspects of my programming. Integrating a voice and timing it to follow the movements of my avatar's mouth took him a long time."

Kyoko nodded, "how long?" He seemed to sense the true scope of the question.

"From the time he started to work on my code ten years, four months and twenty-six days have passed."

She felt her jaw go slack in shock, so long! A decade… and that was _after _forming the initial blueprints if she took how he said that right.

Ren watched her carefully, and smiled without humor. "If you wish to count from the moment he and the president first thought of the idea, you must nearly double the time I gave before. Creating a self aware program was no small feat for them, often they ran into road blocks that took many months, and many minds to finally overcome."

"Many minds? How many people know about you?"

"Only three at first, now it seems _five _people know of me. Those 'many minds' only ever gave theorems for blueprints. As far as anyone is concerned, those blueprints never became reality."

Kyoko swallowed the lump in her throat, best not to let this unreal phenomenon know she felt sad for him. She didn't pity him, that was a sure fire way to make him angry but… this amazing _person _stuck in her computer missed so much, and he could never really know exactly what it was he was missing.

And he obviously questioned his own existence, even if he tried to hide it.

It was so unfair. Kyoko made a decision, she would give this man a taste of the real world. Even if she had to bend herself over backwards to help him.

**.**

Kuu leaned back in his chair and smiled, he'd known the moment Kyoko had returned online access to her computer and so had used the 'tracer bug' in Ren's program (which only he himself knew about) to follow Ren's actions and the conversation.

Oh he was a very smart man… and he felt more confident than ever that he'd made the right choice in allowing that girl to take his son.

Kyoko Mogami would be Ren's godsend, they just didn't know it yet.

He just hoped this wouldn't all blow up in his face, when that unknown variant took effect.

**:To Be Continued/…**


	5. Friendship

**:Fast Forward/**

For the past three days Kyoko had been in a frenzy of activity. Ren gave up trying to keep up with the woman's thoughts and half formed sentences and 'sort of' explanations. She'd taken to mumbling to herself letting loose the occasional oath or happy shout that Ren couldn't make sense of. He was rather irritated and he let her know it. Her only response was, "just wait," or "it's a surprise" or "you'll love this" and with that explanation (or lack there of) fell back into her world of plan making and stealing.

Oh yes, Kyoko had returned to her illegal pass time. Ren had, at first, attempted to put a stop to it. It had caused an argument that had even Ren losing his composure, when he realized he'd picked a losing battle. She'd said something about desperately needing these devices and being unable to afford them all. When he asked why she needed them she'd given the vague answers mentioned above and ended the argument quite abruptly with an exasperated "fine! I'll go find a different computer to do it on!" and stormed out of her house. She didn't return for two whole days. He recalled sighing exasperatedly and asking Corn if she was always like that, Corn had whined in response and shook his tail. When Ren realized he'd been talking to a creature unable to understand and reciprocate conversation with him, he started questioning his sanity.

Through all these events had been a simple question_, 'what is she up to?'_ Today Ren stared at the answer in open mouthed awe. It was nothing he ever could have imagined, or expected, true to Kyoko style.

**:Replay/…**

Chiori stared at Kyoko with open mouthed fascination, Kyoko noted it was very similar to a certain NI's look before she'd stormed out on him yesterday (although she had to admit it wasn't so much fascination as disbelief…) She felt a stab of guilt when she remembered that particular scene. He was only trying to help… in a very unhelpful way. She knew that her hobby was not legal, it wasn't right and it could only lead to trouble (like it already had) but it was also the easiest and cheapest means to getting everything she needed.

Kyoko nodded with no small amount of satisfaction, looking around herself. She was sprawled on Chiori's living room floor (she lived in the same condo housing area she did), at the center of a graveyard filled with dissected bits and pieces of various high end devices she had received in rush mail over the past day or two, there was still a key part missing (she was hoping it would arrive today) so her little 'project' was only partially done. Even so she was thrilled with what she had. Chiori had already told her she could stay as long as she needed on the explanation that what she was making was a surprise for a dear friend who was staying with her. Chiori shook her head in mourning of all those beautiful pieces of work… each one now in many pieces, she'd repeatedly asked what her one time enemy was up to, but all her questions had been deflected.

Once upon a time, she and Kyoko had been bitter enemies (or at least in Chiori's mind they had been) both were tech geniuses and had loved trying to one up each other when it came to hacking methods and acquiring new technologies. Kyoko had apparently only viewed it as a friendly one-upmanship. Chiori had been so taken aback (not to mention amused) at the very strange girl and her rather skewed perspective she'd cried uncle and become her friend… albeit a competitive one. Kyoko was thrilled when Chiori finally declared herself a friend, she had been stubborn to admit to it at first but persistence was key! Now they constantly worked to sharpen each other's skills and always brought out the best in each other's abilities. Kyoko loved being pushed to surpass herself.

She sighed, inspecting what she had so far. The complicated network of nearly microscopic bits and pieces connected by delicate wiring which she hoped would serve as an appropriate core for Ren had taken her 6 hours of complete concentration and very careful handiwork to make. If she was even the slightest bit off-one wire out of place, one small piece not working properly- then all her hard work and planning and arguing with her newest friend would be for nothing.

The door bell rang, sending Kyoko's heart racing. That was it! It just had to be it… the final part. The most important part…

Chiori went to get the all important item while Kyoko very carefully gathered all she would need to complete her project around her. She'd never done anything like this before, and it certainly was testing her to the greatest extent of her abilities. There was so much guess work involved that her teeth were on edge. What if she presented this to R.E.N. only to discover that she'd done something wrong somewhere and it was useless to him? It'd probably crush the both of them. She ran over her mental blue prints again and again, constantly checking for even the smallest of details which could spell disaster. It seemed full proof to her, but if it was her own knowledge that was defective then she wouldn't know till it was too late. She certainly couldn't test the thing before handing it over… there wasn't exactly an abundance of AIs-or NIs- going around.

Chiori looked at the picture on the box she now held, and wondered once again what Kyoko was up to. She didn't make any sense… then again she never did. She only ever followed a beat all her own, one only she could make sense of. She walked back to the graveyard, tiptoeing around the empty husk of a cell phone and several ruined digital cameras and handed Kyoko the box. She fought back a laugh at the reverent look on Kyoko's face as she slowly took the package and opened it, holding the final piece.

On her palm (which it ironically fit comfortably in) was a silvery blue robot shaped vaguely like a spider, it had six three-jointed legs tucked into its circular shaped main body. She flipped it over onto its back where the panel for the battery port was, took it off, carefully took out the battery port (it wouldn't need a battery with Ren powering it) and began the long slow process of integrating the hard drive Ren was to be housed in. After that was complete she cut two little circular holes into the sides of its body and connected the tiny speakers, and cut out a panel on top and installed the mini camera complete with a swivel feature. That bit either had Kyoko muttering a constant string of oaths, or pleading with it to cooperate and be a good boy.

Seven hours after she started gutting the mini robot, it was finally complete. She didn't bother to celebrate, or even smile to herself in satisfaction. Nope that could come tomorrow… she fell on her side and joined Chiori (who had passed out on the couch some time ago) in the realm of sleep.

Slowly Kyoko came back to reality, the remnants of a dream with a blonde haired, blue eyed fairy King still dancing behind her eyes. As the fog cleared from her brain she became aware or a serious crick in her neck. She sat up with a groan, stretching to relieve aching muscles and came face to face with an amused Chiori.

"Sleeping until Two? Did you have today off?" She asked, there was no small amount of amusement in her voice. Obviously she already knew the answer.

It took a moment for the storm to hit, first Kyoko's eyes grew to the size of saucers, her mouth falling open as she turned to look at the clock, 2:15 in bright green numbers stared back. Kyoko screamed standing up and running around in a whirlwind of activity, getting dressed brushing her hair and teeth all at the same time proved a funny thing to watch. She spoke at the speed of light, whining that 'Miss Chiori should have woken her', and 'Mr. Ogata will be so disappointed' or even 'Ren is most definitely not happy with me' though Chiori did not know who 'Ren' was she made a note to tease her later about having a new boyfriend and not mentioning him sooner, she also decided to make it a point to stop by later just so she could see if he was sexy or not. Chiori snickered, shy little Kyoko finally growing up and getting herself -

Her chain of thought broke off with a rushed "BYE!" And the slam of a door. Chiori looked at the strange thing still on her living room floor and snickered again, _3... 2... 1... _her door flew open, there was a blur of movement and suddenly the upgraded mini robot was gone, its disappearance followed closely by the door slamming shut yet again. She shook her head, a rare genuine giggle escaping her lips.

**.**

Kyoko bowed and apologized for the 17th time in three minutes, Kanae was counting. Mr. Ogata seemed more worried then angry, after all Kyoko was the most punctual person on the planet. It was very unlike her to be late, Kanae honestly thought that the only thing that _could_ make her late was death. Apparently she had been wrong, and now she really, _really _wanted to know what else could make the 'perfect' Kyoko late for work. Detective Kanae Kotonami was on the case!

Kyoko was feeling lower than dirt. Miss Moko was her oldest and best friend ever… but she had a secret she just could not tell her. Though they had been friends since the first time they met, on a play ground after Moko had pushed her to the ground at the age of three, this was something she had sworn never to reveal to anybody outside the world of hackers. And even though she loathed the one to whom she'd given her word, she would never break it. Hating a person with all one's soul was not an excuse to break a promise.

Kyoko's cover was not a complete lie, in fact it was only believable because at one point it had been _true._ From the moment she had learned how to use her hands she and technology had been bitter enemies, mostly because she loved to pull them apart and see how their insides worked. Her fascination with the inner workings of all things complicated never faded as she grew older, neither had her ability to destroy them. Her curiosity and her ignorance were weapons of mass destruction… that is until her first year of senior high school, when she had met _him._

He was a technical genius, everything he touched seemed to start working properly or worked even _better. _She had been smitten the moment she first saw him, and he had in turn changed her life completely.

He was the best thing that ever happened to her, he was her worst nightmare. Anger hot and righteous flooded her brain and the vase that had previously been cracked exploded in a dangerous spray of glass.

Kanae threw her arms up the moment she'd seen Kyoko's too innocent face turn to one of fury. She knew what would happen next all too well and when the vase exploded she'd managed to deflect all the pieces from her face. Kyoko wasn't quite as lucky, one shard had left a scratch on her cheek just deep enough to draw a thin line of blood. The shock must have shaken off her anger because the destruction stopped there. Kanae knew only one person could illicit that level of hate… she didn't know what had caused him to leap into her thoughts but she knew when it was best to leave well enough alone. Hell she knew when it was best to leave, period. Things exploding was as good a clue as any.

Yes, well… "this isn't over yet Mogami! I'll expect the _truth _later!" She made her exit.

Kyoko sighed, well at least thinking of the bastard accomplished one thing, a temporary reprieve from Moko's questions. The guilt came back in the anger's place and the remainder of her day dragged on.

**.**

Ren was _not _worried. Such a foolish and law breaking girl did not need any of _his _sympathy… He checked the time for the 1,487 time in the past day and a half. No, Ren was not worried at all. He was simply thinking over all the potentially troublesome situations a girl like her could get into. There was car crashes, getting hit by a car, fire, kidnapping… rape. Honestly the chances of any one or even several of those scenarios happening were fairly high, she wasn't the most attentive person, and she was too trusting. A car crash definitely had the highest probability, he calculated a 42% chance in daylight. Of course kidnapping was a close second at 34%, and getting hit by a car while walking-

Wait, no… he was _not _worried, and he did _not _just waste time to _calculate _possible odds of something happening to her… but still with those percentages-

The front door opened, and a very sheepish Kyoko made her appearance. Ren had to wait for Corn to let her up and for Kyoko to walk into the webcam's scanning area before he could assess her for any injury. As she let the dog out he studied her carefully, waiting for her to turn so he could see her face. He was oddly tense… but absolutely _not worr-_

There was a scratch on her face, and Ren found himself experiencing the very emotion he had stubbornly tried to ignore; worry. He sighed.

"What happened to your face? Did someone attempt to kidnap you? Shall I contact the authorities?" He asked.

Kyoko gave him an odd look, before shaking her head, "no, no I simply got angry earlier… wait how are you going to contact authorities?"

Ren gave small shrug, "I have internet access, you'd be surprised what I can do."

Kyoko considered that a moment before storing it for later thought, "Mr. Ren I am so sorry! I did not mean to storm out on you or yell at you but I'm finally done and I hope you like it, I spent forever on it and ievenwaslateforworkbecause-"

The longer he let her go the more steam she picked up, and as amusing as watching her was he couldn't help the relief that came over him at seeing her here and well. "Enough Ms. Kyoko, I forgive you." He chose not to tell her that he'd spent the past two days thinking about her well being. His eyes returned to the cut on her cheek, "how exactly did that happen?"

Kyoko traced the scratch, feeling a bit sheepish. The NI must have kept the modem on and remained interfaced with the camera and speakers just waiting for her return. She wondered if maybe that meant he considered her a friend. She liked that idea. "When I get angry… things tend to break or even explode if I'm angry enough."

Ren stared at her, "things explode?" Was such a thing even possible?

Kyoko nodded, she didn't understand it either really… she'd never even known what true anger was 'til 6 years ago... in high school. She shrugged, "I don't get it either, it just does."

Ren had a skeptical look on his face, one eyebrow arched slightly, "I'd like to see this."

Kyoko shrugged again, "I have to be angry, and I'm too excited right now!" She had a sudden mood swing as she remembered the specially crafted mini robot in her purse, "Mr. Ren I've finished it! The surprise I've been working on for the past week! It's finally all done and ready for you!"

Ren was taken aback, "You made something… for me?"

"Yes!" she shouted excitedly, then she blushed becoming hesitant as she reached in her purse for whatever it was she wanted to show him. Ren watched her with intense curiosity. What could she have possibly got for _him?_ He was only a program caught in a computer, he couldn't hold or even touch whatever she got. "It's not much really… I'm sorry it's not something better… or more human looking." Her face became even more red as she pulled out the item, "I know you'd probably prefer something bigger and better…but I did my best! I installed a hard drive that is capable of holding you, and rewired the insides so you can operate it and move as you will!" She was staring at the robot intensely afraid to look up at R.E.N., "and I added a camera and speakers so you can see and hear! I even installed a special blue tooth part so you can call my cell if we are not nearby each other and-" She cut off abruptly when she looked at his face.

Ren was trying to compute what was happening, but he couldn't make sense of it. She had built him a body… no it wasn't human, it could probably break easily and it was very small. But it was a body, and that… was more than he had ever thought could be done for him. Sure Kuu and Yashiro mentioned starting something, but that was supposed to take as long as it took to make him… he had been looking at decades before ever being able to _move, _but this young woman before him- in only a _week…_ she didn't even really know him… _why… _"Why?" He whispered.

Kyoko was smiling softly, the look on his face was all the thanks she'd ever need. Her answer was a simple one, "Because you are my friend."

Ren didn't know what a 'friend' was. He'd never had one, he had a creator who thought himself a father, a manager of sorts who watched over him and checked his program to make sure everything worked properly, and President Takarada whom he almost never saw. This girl he'd known for only _one week _and already she was turning his world upside down. Granted that was half his time activated… but in that first week of 'life' tons of information had been programmed into him, nothing like this though.

A new feeling so complex he couldn't even begin to fathom it overtook his thought processors. Was this friendship? He hadn't a clue, but he _liked _how he felt in that moment. "Friend? …Yes Ms. Kyoko, I think this is friendship."

Kyoko smiled brightly, and Ren found himself giving her a genuine smile right back.

**:To Be Continued/...**


	6. Movement

**Okay, I took down the chapter and reposted it in its entirety because I did not know any other way to let everyone know it's now complete. Just scroll down to the pause/play if you've already read the first part.**

**Standard Disclaimers Apply: Someone asked what NI meant the answer- Neuro Intelligence (like R.E.N.'s acronym)**

* * *

**:Restart/**

Ren had a hard time learning the concept of movement. For him, residing with in a computer, movement was as quick as thought. Technically he never 'moved' at all, he simply called up what he wanted to look at, and the code was right there in an instant for him to peruse.

The tiny robot was a completely alien experience for him. For one, downloading his entire program into the small hard drive was uncomfortable. He had never felt discomfort before and he found it to be quite… unpleasant. He had let Kyoko know this and she had snorted, fighting a fit of giggles, and he couldn't understand why. The feeling of his expansive program with all its subroutines and various major files storing his emotions, consciousness, personality and subconscious algorithms fitting into the tiny space was highly restrictive, however it could hold him without short circuiting and it was compatible for him, meaning he could operate the thing without any glitches. Kyoko had smiled happily when he told her of this, remarking that she had been most worried about that. After he had accustomed himself to the ill fit feeling, he tried moving. That had proved a greater trial than he'd anticipated. He couldn't figure out what to _do. _After all, he had never had a body before, or limbs that he needed to operate. When he couldn't figure it out on his own, he had asked Kyoko to tell him what it was like for her; he may be able to apply the information to his own circumstance after all.

Kyoko looked pensive for a moment, her finger tapped her lip in a subconscious manor, "well, to be honest it's not something I've had to think about. Movement comes naturally because I've always had arms and legs to move with." She considered a moment more, "well I suppose even if movement is a subconscious thing for me, I can still _feel _my legs and arms. I know my brain sends a message to them telling them to do this or that according to my will. Perhaps you should try to concentrate on the feeling of your limbs, Mr. Ren. Start by familiarizing yourself with the feel of having an actual body, and then go from there?"

Ren considered her words a moment, her advice was sound, it had to be- she had everyday experience with it after all. His own knowledge was deficient here so he depended on her input, and though he never said it straight out Kyoko seemed to understand. She never laughed at his questions, no matter how simple or obvious they seemed to her, and she always put deep thought in her answers. Ren appreciated this more than she'd ever know. He turned inward, concentrating on the odd feel of the shell he inhabited. He could feel them, all six legs shooting off from the main body. It was strange, before his 'self' had simply spread throughout the mainframe of the computer, never taking on definite shape. Now he felt himself _concentrated._ His 'self' now had limitations, and a specific shape that it could not change from. He focused on the part of his 'self' that resided in the legs of his current shell, he felt the joints and knew that those were what allowed him to move. He could no longer go where he wanted with a simple thought, now he had to concentrate on his new found limbs to make them take him there. He focused on his right front appendage, running over its joints with his mind and willed that part of him to _move_!

The limb twitched and Ren bit back an excited cry, instead focusing on making all the others parts of himself follow suit. Fifteen minutes later he was able to pick a destination and go there as he willed, however his movements were still twitchy and hesitant and he had to focus intently on his legs to make them move even that much. Kyoko had said with confidence that, 'the more he accustomed himself to the mechanics of movement the more natural it would become,' and eventually he would barely even have to think of it. Ren decided he'd do nothing but practice until his movements were as smooth as Kyoko's (or as smooth as they could be in a mini robot spider- body). The elation he felt at finally being able to explore the world _outside _his computer prison kept his spirits high. If he wanted to see what was outside the living room, he simply made his shell take him there. Each limb had many microscopic hooks at the bottom that allowed him to scale vertical obstacles, this however was something he'd need to practice a lot before he could do it with out jerking himself loose and falling back to the ground. This did not slow him down too much, there were plenty of places he could check out that were on the floor. And if he asked, Kyoko would lift his shell onto whatever he wanted to explore. She beamed constantly as he asked his never ending stream of questions regarding this suddenly very accessible world.

Corn did not like Ren's new shell, he kept far away from the mini robot whimpering on occasion. Kyoko had tried to comfort him and get him used to it but Corn had none of it. Whenever Ren approached him he'd scamper away with his tail between his legs, this slightly disappointed the NI because he had wanted to look at the dog up close. He felt doubly denied because he could not observe Kyoko up close either. Asking such a thing would be a gross breach of privacy. It did not stop his curiosity however, he had plenty of book knowledge of human anatomy but he wanted to see up close what set them apart from him. Even Corn, who's limited intellect was far better off than he, he was real. He let that train of thought go.

There had been one point in his exploration where his shell had skidded across her linoleum kitchen floor, to be stopped by a convenient cabinet. Kyoko had apologized over and over again, saying that she had no way to make him 'feel' his surroundings and so help him judge things like speed and traction.

Ren knew what the concept of 'feel' was. Everything had a certain texture, and certain quality to it. Some were aesthetically pleasing, while others were not. He had no clue what any of that was, he just knew what it _meant._ He told her not to worry, there was nothing to be sorry about, she had already done more than enough for him with this one not-so-small gift. He could live without knowing how stuff felt- it was being forever isolated from it that upset him so. He kept that last thought to himself.

At the end of the day he uploaded himself back into the computer, there was no sense staying in an uncomfortable shell when one could not see and had no one to talk to. Besides his 'sleep mode' didn't work properly in the robot, he thought it may be because the discomfort distracted him. When his program had fully reintegrated to the computer's hard drive he interfaced with the speakers and web cam, and then greeted 'Prince', who scanned over him and recognized him as 'ally' before wandering off to its corner of the hard drive. It's avatar lay in the corner of the screen and Ren's scratched its ears. Kyoko had left to bathe and prepare for bed sometime ago, so he waited. Corn was with her, unwilling to be in the same room as the spider robo- R.E.N.

She walked in a few minutes later in a modest bath robe, her damp hair sticking to her face and neck. He had a fleeting thought of wanting to know what it felt like to be wet, he had absolutely nothing to reference it too having never had sensation before. He'd accessed a dictionary with all relevant descriptive words on a spur of the moment curiosity when Yashiro had burned himself with his cup of coffee a couple days after activation, and had let it go just as quickly. What was the point, when one did not even understand the concept of moving at the time? He watched her rub a towel over her damp locks, earlier he had said touch meant nothing to him, but then he had been distracted by the odd and new experience of movement. She was scratching behind Corn's ear now, while staring at his avatar distractedly. He found himself wanting to know what feeling was, and he thought himself a very selfish person.

"Mr. Ren, something troubling you?" He cursed inwardly, a habit he caught himself taking from her, time to disconnect his emotional feed from the damn image.

"Everything is well, Ms. Kyoko. I was simply waiting for your return so I could bid you good night."

That made her brighten and distract her from his previous slip, "thank you Mr. Ren! I wish both you and Prince sweet dreams!"

Ren nodded, "I wish you sweet dreams as well, see you in the morning." Kyoko nodded and bowed to the screen before heading up the stairs with Corn for the night. Ren watched her go, a less intense version of the complex emotion from earlier taking over him. He suddenly realized he'd never thanked her properly and chastised himself, making a note to do so first thing tomorrow morning. Another unsettling feeling made its presence known, even as he entered sleep mode, and in the realm of half consciousness he was able to figure out what it was.

She may have been right upstairs, but he was missing her.

**:Pause/…**

* * *

**:Play/…**

Kyoko did not have to work the next day, so she decided to take Ren out. He seemed more than willing to comply, eager to see something beyond the living room. She wondered if he had ever even seen sunlight before coming to her home. "Where do you want to go first?"

Ren shook his head, "I have found the answer to all 23 of Hilbert's Problems, the solution to Fermat's Last Theorem, I have even found the answer to the Riemann Hypothesis… I just can't tell you what lies outside that door."

Kyoko stared, unsure on whether or not to believe him and in the end chose to let it go. Even if she demanded he prove it, she'd never understand a word of his answers. She smiled, "well download yourself to the spidey shell and I'll show you the answer!" She watched as Ren's avatar broke down into a swirl of pixels and disappeared from the screen. Prince's avatar stood up and whined, searching for the program he was supposed to be watching over.

Kyoko knelt down and disconnected the USB cord from her modem, picking up the mini robot and depositing it into her purse, "I'll arrange you so you can see, but try not to let others see you."

"Then how do I communicate with you?"

Kyoko smiled, seeming rather proud of herself. "I've already thought of that, just activate the blue tooth I put in the robot," she stuck something in her ear, "then we can communicate like talking on phones!"

They tested the hardware to make sure it worked, then Kyoko introduced him to the world outside for the first time in his short life. It was big, oh so very big and he was so small, smaller even then Kyoko in this shell she built. But even so, it was incomparable. He knew the sky was blue, this was fact, Mr. Yashiro had described it to him once and even showed him what the color looked like, however to actually _see _it for himself was rather mind blowing. It was huge, seemingly infinite… a never ending blue expanse with white puffs and swishes scattered over its massive surface. It was beautiful. The thought of living his half life and never experiencing this one simple thing made him ache. How could humans take such a thing for granted? It was beyond the scope of his understanding.

Slowly he pulled his eyes away from that deep blue and brought his eyes down to earth. A startlingly vivid color met his eyes, green. He had seen a more muted shade of this color before, Mr. Yashiro or President Takarada would occasionally wear it but this was very different. It was vibrant, bright and rich. Thousands if not millions of green stalks spreading forth from the spot he looked at, _ah, _he thought, _grass. _What would such an odd thing feel like? He broke off that thought, what Kyoko was doing for him was enough.

Kyoko smiled, Ren would ask her the occasional question and she could hear the wonder in his voice, it made her pause and appreciate the world she lived in. It was a perfect sunny day, the cicadas were singing and the trees swayed gently. Ren asked to be brought up close to one so he could see the leaves and bark. She lay her hands against the oak's trunk, and sighed. He'd never admit it but she knew his lack of touch sensory bothered him, but she knew it had to, looking at the world around him and _seeing _the texture it held had to make him wonder didn't it?

"Where are we going?" Crackled his voice in her ear.

Kyoko considered his question a moment, then a light bulb turned on, "ah! I know!"

**.**

There was a knock at the door, Kuu groaned. This wasn't the type of knock that if you ignored would go away, especially considering he knew exactly who it was doing the knocking. He really didn't have time to deal with the eccentric old man, he was really very busy with the crisis unfolding before his very eyes. The live feed put his teeth on edge, and for the first time ever he was wondering if his brilliant plan had really been so 'brilliant' after all… he thought about it, _nah! _He was still a genius, albeit a nervous one.

After all, how could he expect an inexperienced child like Kyoko to understand R.E.N.'s weaknesses? This was a variable he had not placed into the equation- scratch that, _variables._

He grumbled to himself as the incessant knocking became incessant banging, rattling the door and the house attached to it. He stomped over to the abused wooden barrier and opened it before the abuser could start round 3. "To what do I owe the pleasure…" He took in the president's attire, "…Sir Lory?"

President Takarada was resplendent in a crimson and gold outfit that would fit in perfectly in a medieval setting, Kuu shook his head as the president walked in followed by several other men dressed as squires, he noted the gold gryphon insignia on his crimson cape and watched as the 'knight' sent his 'squires' to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

He waited for them to disappear out of earshot before spinning around, causing his cape to flutter grandly-Kuu thought that was intentional, "show me!" He demanded, and Kuu sighed already knowing exactly why he was here and pointed at the computer across the room.

"I've already got the window open. You can see what they're up to if you wish."

Lory sauntered over to the computer, there was a window filled with code. And new code constantly streamed across the computer. He stared at it a moment, putting together the pieces.

Kuu joined him, "With this I know where he is, what he is doing, and who he is with, at all times."

President Takarada nodded slowly, "So, 'what', 'where' and 'who'… what about 'how'?" He asked.

Kuu smiled, "back in the beginning stages I made a file in a small section of his code that broadcasts a constant live feed. The wave length is a unique one, only I know the 'station' I suppose you could call it, so only my computer can pick it up."

Lory looked up at Kuu, "he's no longer on her computer?"

Kuu shook his head, "she built him a crude body. It's tiny, and a rather… odd shape for one such as Ren, but it gives him much more freedom."

"And _this,_" he gestured at the live feed, "is where she chose to take him?" He asked incredulously.

Kuu shrugged, "apparently, it really isn't a bad choice. Even with his inability to feel, in this place _sight_ can make up for that."

The president kept his eyes on the most currant feeds, "I take it this crude body has minimal to no protection and is easily breakable?"

Kuu sighed, "one wrong move, and if that body gets crushed…"

"If the hard drive is damaged, we risk losing Ren." Lory's voice sounded ominous.

"That's not the only growing issue I'm seeing Lory."

The President straightened and looked at Kuu, "what more?"

Kuu opened another window on his computer, this displayed all the inner workings of Kyoko's computer, he pointed out one program in particular, "this is a learning security program, one the 'Slicer' had stolen the day before taking Ren."

Lory nodded, "yes the Armadillo Sec program, I'm aware of this."

"Look carefully." Kuu watched as Lory scanned over the sec program's code, and as he did his expression became grim. "Why would Ren allow this?"

"Trust, I suppose. But I don't think he thought over the consequences."

Lory looked at him, "that thing is more advanced than I thought. It's learning rapidly, even when Ren isn't on the computer, it's still going over the code in its memory…"

Kuu nodded once, firmly. "I don't think Armadillo anticipated their program coming in contact with an actual A.I. no one foresaw this. At this rate that thing will have grown an intelligence all its own."

"And with the information Ren gave it, it could easily take Ren down. It's growing so rapidly I doubt even Ren's back up protection programs could stop it for long."

Kuu shook his head, "Ren is the smartest being in existence, but when it comes to these things, he's still just a child. I doubt he anticipated, or is even aware, that he gave this girl a weapon that he can't beat." He stared at the code on the computer, "one that, if given time, has the potential to grow sentient itself."

**:To Be Continued/…**

And with that the shit gains momentum towards the fan.

So someone stated they hated that I use 'Mr.' and 'Ms' in my work. Honestly I do it cuz its simpler, but if you think it would improve your reading experience let me know and ill do the whole 'san' 'chan' thing… starting next chapter, no way am I going back to fix all the other ones!


	7. Sunset

**Standard Disclaimers Apply: DON'T KILL ME FOR BEING SO LATE!! I'M SOOOO SOOOORRRRRRYYYYY!!!**

* * *

**:Restart/**

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" Kyoko screamed, throwing her arms in the air. Gravity left her at that moment and for just a second she felt she could fly. For just the most infinitesimal piece of a second, Ren was very scared.

He watched from the mini cam set up in Kyoko's shirt as the roller coaster descended at a speed faster than just gravity would allow, listening through the blue tooth securely fastened to her ear. He had to admit, even for someone as random as Kyoko could be he had never expected her to come up with such a crazy scenario. As he watched everything twist and turn at abominable speeds, he could swear some of his subroutines were being jumbled… as impossible as it seemed. It caused a very strange feeling, one his emotional programming identified as 'nausea'.

A program experiencing nausea… what an unexpected concept. Ren had to acknowledge the girl was good. Even as watching what was happening caused some amount of fear, he also could feel exhilaration only slightly dampened by the fact that he couldn't feel the wind, or the effects of gravity and Newton's laws, such things were easy to dismiss as ground and sky became a nondescript mess of green, brown and blue. Ren submitted himself to the thrill of what he was seeing, Kyoko screaming right into his earpiece only adding to the effect.

When the coaster came to a stop, Both felt that it hadn't been long enough. Kyoko raced over to her purse, quickly checking to make sure the shell she had pulled R.E.N.'s hard drive and 'eyes' from was still there, as well as her wallet, and then raced on to the next ride she felt would be fun for both herself and her passenger. All the while she chatted away into her blue tooth, no one any the wiser that there wasn't another phone (and another body) on the other line. She paused in front of the Graviton, considering for a moment before shaking her head and moving on. Ren couldn't feel the pressure from the spinning, which was the entire point of that ride. She continued on her way, looking listlessly at other rides and trying (and failing miserably) to describe the feeling of gravity while on rides like the one she'd just passed by when something caught her eye and she froze to the spot, falling silent. Ren tried calling her name several times with no answer, and whatever it was which had caught her eye was outside his site range, blocked by the collar of her shirt. Eventually Kyoko snapped herself out of it with a wide smile, clapping her hands together she turned towards whatever she'd been staring at and started running. Ren got a good look at what had excited her, and his thought processors reeled in confusion, unable to compute what he was seeing.

He knew what dishes were, and he also knew that there were fancy dishes called 'china' which people liked to eat and drink tea with, he'd seen Mr. Yashiro and the President drinking from such fancy tea cups… however he did not know that there were dishes that existed in this world with could be so… _big._ Humans most certainly could not use those cups to drink tea with, they wouldn't even be able to lift them! And unless Kuu had left out very vital information about giants actually _existing, _he doubted they could be used in any such capacity. Looking long and hard at the oversized cups he realized that human children were sitting inside the cups and _spinning _them by using some disk like thing in the center. From the added information he could deduce that it was yet another ride in the park. What strange creatures… creating a ride out of dishes? He didn't understand, and let Kyoko know this. She laughed and said, "the tea cups have always been my favorite! It doesn't need to make sense, it's fun!" With that unhelpful response, she paid for a ride and hopped into a blue patterned tea cup, wasting no time in grabbing the disk in the center and spinning it fast as she could. The slow revolutions allowed Ren to see the park from every angle, he enjoyed surveying other rides and peoples' reactions to them. Some were quite comical in his opinion. The revolutions slowly started picking up speed, as the tea cups began moving in one big circle.

Kyoko let out a giggle, and asked Ren if he could get dizzy. Ren ran through his database of emotions he gave a hmm before saying aloud, "a simulated 'feeling' triggered when Program's sight is being continuously spun around. What does this mean?" Kyoko's only response was to spin the disk with more zeal. Within the minute, Ren became acquainted first hand with the feeling of 'dizziness' and he really didn't like it. Everything whirled around faster than his program could process, much like the roller coaster but infinitely worse. Humans and rides seemed to bleed into each other as Ren tried and failed to focus his sight on anything outside the overlarge cup. He then realized that the 'dizzy' simulation was closely linked to the 'nausea' simulation and he decided then and there, as everything spun in a repeating blur, that he absolutely did _not _like either of these two feelings. He contemplated deleting them for a moment before changing his mind. They made him feel human.

One thing though he would not budge on. If ever again he saw another tea cup, regardless of size, he was running in the opposite direction. (He ignored the fact that he could only do that if he were in the mini robot.)

"You like such a thing?!" He asked at the end, irritation and unease coloring his tone.

Kyoko laughed, "it affected you right? That's the whole point."

"That was a negative feeling. I do not want to experience anything like that again."

"It's all a part of being human." She responded softly.

Ren didn't respond, he already knew that after all.

**.**

Kuu was laughing his butt off, arms holding his middle tightly and tears at the corner of his eyes. President Takarada wasn't in much better a condition. Watching Ren suffer from the girl's innovative and cruel imagination was the highlight of his week. Possibly month.

"Tea cups! Can you just imagine that stoic person voluntarily sitting in one of those?!" Lory asked between bouts of laughter. They both tried to imagine Ren's avatar sitting in a giant tea cup, spinning it for all he was worth. They fell back into fits of laughter at the image.

A loud _ping _came from the computer, cutting through their gasps for air and booming chuckles. Kuu immediately stopped, sitting forward and staring intently at the computer, all pretense of amusement gone in a flash. That wiped the smile of the President's face as he turned towards the computer, trying to see what he did.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Kuu's only response was to start typing rapidly into the computer. A shiver ran down Lory's spine as Kuu's expression changed from concern, to all out rage… and fear.

"Kuu, talk to me what's happening?" The code had gotten to complex for him to follow. Something was going on with Kyoko's computer he knew.

"Another hacker." Kuu said shortly.

Alarm zinged through every nerve ending of Lory's body, "who?"

Kuu scowled, "Don't know, I think it's the same one who works with the Slicer."

"What's he doing?"

"Trying to gain access to her computer."

Lory stared at him, "then he's making a move…"

Kuu suddenly stopped typing and leaned back with a gusty sigh, crossing his arms and frowning. "the Sec Program beat him out, I doubt he was expecting it to have grown to such a degree."

"that's good… right?" He asked when he saw the other man scowl.

"Now we are not the only ones aware of the sec program's potential. It won't be long before he comes back with better weapons."

There was another ping and Kuu leaned forward again, snorting. "He left her an IM."

Lory read it and sighed, "they're out of time."

**.**

The shadowy figure sat back from his laptop, the thunderous scowl on his face slowly morphing to a dangerous smile. He'd expected only one toy to play with, instead he'd be getting two. He ran an expert eye over the information he was able to grab before the Armadillo Program had forced him out, the obvious absence of his target slightly disconcerting. He dismissed it fairly quick though, it was possible it had hidden itself deeper in her computer while the Sec Program dealt with him. He'd never expected such a rapid development to come from such a program.

He had to be careful, such a development could ruin his fun after all.

A sudden idea came to him, and a wide sadistic smile graced his features. In that moment he changed his plans, and his target.

What a great opportunity to prolong his fun.

He leaned back towards his computer, preparing himself for round two.

**.**

Kyoko was now trying to describe what cotton candy felt and tasted like, she was failing pretty miserably in this too. "well… it's soft and fluffy, it melts in your mouth."

Ren was silent a moment, he knew by definition what soft and fluffy meant but… "so then what does it feel like to melt in your mouth?"

"Eh? Um, well…" Kyoko sighed, putting more of the candy in her mouth. How to describe something without using words the NI wouldn't understand? She came up with nothing, "Sorry Ren-san…"

Ren shrugged it off, "It was just curiosity, it really doesn't matter if I know what it tastes like." He eyed the pink and blue puff ball, it just… didn't seem edible looking to him is all. He was worried she would get sick. It certainly was not healthy. "Where are we going now?"

Kyoko smiled, the sun had started to set, many of the rides had already been lit up bathing the fair grounds in bright flashing colors. She turned to the largest ride, situated in the center of the fair, "every day at a fair must end with the Ferris Wheel," She said. Ren looked at the huge circular contraption covered in lights that constantly shifted and moved. It could easily see over every other ride there, it was slightly daunting and it made him feel very small.

Kyoko got into one of the compartments and sat down, adjusting the camera attached to her shirt so that Ren got a 180 degree view of his surroundings. "Riding on the Ferris Wheel makes me feel as if I'm on top of the world. I love this ride, it's calming and it gives you an uninhibited view of the setting sun. It's very beautiful."

Ren watched as the ground fell away slowly, followed by the trees and even the tallest rides. Everything was bellow him, and only the sky and clouds were above. Such a view was awe inspiring for the program. Everything he'd ever dreamed of seeing while stuck in the computer was there for him to look at. Outside the fair grounds the trees seemed to stretch into forever, only broken by roads and houses. In the far distance he could see another clearing, however the ground seemed to shimmer and shift in the light of the setting sun. He stared in confusion for a moment before his thought processors offered an explanation. It was a lake, a large one that vaguely resembled the shape of an "L". He stared at it in wonder, water in a glass and water outside in a lake were very different. It was almost hypnotizing with the ever shifting light across its surface. Then something happened which snapped him out of his reverie. The golden light began to change, soft reds and pinks started to mix in while the gold began to fade. Confusion flashed through his emotion matrix and he quickly looked up at the sky. His startled gasp was heard by Kyoko and she smiled, _this _is what she so desperately wanted him to see.

The sun was beginning to fall beneath the tree line, its harsh yellow color faded to a warm orange. Fanning outward in brilliant streaks of light were pinks and reds and oranges and purples, the clouds painted in them. As he stared at the sight before him, which he could only describe as 'beautiful' something inside him shifted. Kyoko's soft voice played in the background like a melody, saying how she felt he would want to see this. She had seen it many times and still it never failed to move her. That woman knew what he wanted better than he did himself, the ones who created him could not understand as she seemed to. He'd known her for a week, and already she had created a permanent place in his programming.

He considered her the most important person he knew. They watched the sunset together as long as they could before the Ferris Wheel restarted its slow revolution, and they had to get off at the bottom. Neither said very much as they left the park and headed home. Ren was trying his best to relive that moment over and over, ensuring even the tiniest detail was engrained in his memory. Even though he had perfect recall, nothing was as important as that one moment in time for him.

**.**

Kyoko walked through her front door and greeted Corn, placing the robot (with Ren now back inside) on the floor. "I'll go turn on the computer for you. Play with Corn!"

Ren gave a small huff at that last comment and followed after her into the living room. She was kneeling by the modem, waiting for it to start up. "I was wondering, you need to go to work tomorrow correct? May I go with you? I would like to see where you work." He did not mention that after a day like today, the thought of being stuck in a house all day with Kyoko so far off was an extremely unappealing prospect.

Kyoko turned to him and gave a bright smile, as if she knew exactly what was left unsaid. He had to admit, she probably did. "Of course! That was the plan." She frowned when the computer behind her gave an all too familiar jangle, and turned to read the IM that popped up when the windows had finished loading.

**Demon Medium: **I want that program

Kyoko stared at those words, her insides felt like they'd been doused in ice water. With all the fun she'd been having, she'd forgotten about her partner and what he may have been planning. Suddenly it felt as if she were caught in a vacuum, unable to breathe. Worry for Ren flooded her nervous system. What should she do?

"Don't panic." a calm, deep voice spoke from the entrance, she twisted to look at the mini robot, "panicking will make things worse. You need a clear head. It's best to ignore it for now. I'm positive Prince can protect your computer for the time being."

Kyoko nodded, following his advice. "He's better than me when it comes to hacking. Even with Prince protecting my computer I'm sure he could find a way around it if he wanted too. It's all a matter of time…"

Ren thought for a moment, then came to a decision. "Install me back into the computer, I need to get in touch with the man who created me."

Kyoko hesitated, but it wasn't because she was worried he'd turn her in, rather she was worried that if she put him back on, he would be gone by morning.

Taken by the Demon Medium.

"It's okay Kyoko-san, I have my own defenses. It won't be so easy to take me unless I want to go."

Kyoko stared at him, "I got you didn't I?"

Ren ignored that and headed for the modem, Kyoko hooked up the USB cord and waited for Ren to do his thing. Once he was fully installed, he accessed the internet and hacked LME's mainframe like it was a child's computer game. It took him less than a second to locate Kuu's user account and send and email, the man was online and would get it immediately.

Now all that was left was to wait.

**.**

Kuu smiled when the email alert flashed on his screen, he already knew who it was from. He opened it eagerly, hoping to get an 'I miss you' from his surrogate son. He was sorely disappointed.

_I already know you are up to something. I am sure you know who is after my program. Stop playing around and start figuring out a way to help Ms. Kyoko._

Kuu sighed, his son could be so cold to him.

**:To Be Continued/**

**Okay so the whole problem I have with Sho is now solved… he's going to be a larger part of the story than I'd originally anticipated, though whether he's 'bad' or 'good' has yet to be decided, maybe you guys can say which you want him to be hm?**

**Updates will never take so long again, I promise!! Next up is crimson memories, I'm probably going to go back and forth in updating. **


	8. Trouble Comes in Threes

**Standard Disclaimers Apply: So this chapter should make all my faithful readers very happy… :evil grin: Enter Sho Fuwa!**

* * *

**:Restart/**

The phone started resounding throughout the huge room with earsplitting rings. The figure buried beneath the sheets grumbled, throwing a pillow over his head in an attempt to smother out the sound. After a minute or two the ringing stopped.

The man was just about to fall back into the realm of dreams, then the piercing shriek of the phone sounded again. He sat up bolt upright, having been scared witless by the loud noise in his half asleep state. Swearing enough to make a sailor blush he reached for the phone, he didn't halt his stream of curses as he brought the phone to his mouth.

"As pleasant as ever it seems." Came a voice he loathed above every other.

Sho Fuwa scowled, "Why the hell are you calling me so early in the morning?"

"… it's one 'o' clock in the after noon."

Sho sniffed, "that's early. I thought I told you never to call me again."

"Like what you say matters? I have something I want you to do."

"Why the hell would I help you?" Sho cursed mentally, if he brought up _that time…_

The man on the other end chuckled, predicting what Sho was thinking. "Because you owe me for saving your ass that time."

"I would have been just fine without your interference!" He had had everything under control damn it!

"You were going to cause a massive brawl right in front of your employer, I doubt you had anything under control at that point."

If he could spit fire, his room would be toast. He hated that freaky bastard! "What the hell do you want then?!"

"I want you to retrieve something for me."

"Hn. Get it yourself I'm not an errand boy."

"It's not that simple. What I want and how you get it are both… a bit on the illegal side. But that isn't all."

Sho got a chill, he had a bad feeling about this…

"You'll have to go head to head with an old acquaintance to get what I want."

And he really didn't like that tone…

"In fact you taught her everything she knows, and you taught her all too well Fuwa-kun."

No way in hell was this happening…

"Think of it this way, if you get what I want away from her, it'll prove you are still better than Kyoko."

_Oh hell no! _"Are you out of your mind? What the hell would that idiot have that you would need?" There was a pause, "and I don't need to _prove _I'm better than her!"

"Actually I've been partnering with her for awhile now, Sho. Remember that big nemesis of yours?"

"what the hell does the Slicer have to do with her!?" He growled.

"The fact that the Slicer kept grabbing all your targets before you could wasn't a coincidence Sho. I set her after them just to see who'd win."

"You mean to tell me… that that girl… is the _Slicer?!"_

"And it seems she beat you every time. You've lost your touch."

Sho ground his teeth, "that idiot is nothing compared to me, what the hell do I need to get?!" Sho was seeing red now.

The figure on the other end of the line smiled, it was so easy to manipulate him.

**.**

Kyoko got out of her car and set the alarm, slinging her purse over her shoulder she looked inside to ensure the robot R.E.N. was still there. "It's pretty boring you know. I don't know how you'll occupy yourself."

"it may be boring to you, because you come here every day. This is all new to me. Much of it is new…" Ren looked out from her purse to see a sea of cars. They were in a car park bellow the building.

Kyoko hummed, "you're right, I wanted to show you a normal human life… that includes the mundane things too." She headed towards the elevator with a small smile on her lips.

The first thing she saw when the elevator doors pulled open was the distraught face of her boss, Ogata-san. The moment there was enough space for him to squeeze through he leapt at Kyoko. "Kyoko-chan, Kyoko-chan! It's terrible, it's a disaster! The Megume-Mckauly deal is falling through! Please hurry, I need your help!"

"Eh?" was all Kyoko could manage to get out as her boss latched onto her and dragged her to the meeting room. Ren could sense things were not going to be as 'boring' as she had originally thought.

He watched her as she became absorbed in her work. Some of it he could not follow, for it involved reading other people. This was something he found profoundly outside his ability to do, because humans were so unpredictable. Regardless of what the human girl was asked to do, or how much she had to run around, talk, argue or redo any of the previously mentioned- she held a look on her face Ren could not decipher, however he did recognize it. He'd seen it before on Kuu's face, even on Yashiro's once or twice. It made her back straight, her shoulders firm, and it set her mouth into a thin line, her eyes were hard and never wavered. He recalled the first time he'd seen this similar look on Kuu's face, when he had been running a system's check shortly after his Initial Boot. Ren hadn't hesitated to ask what it was Kuu had been feeling, to make him look that way.

"_It's confidence, Ren. Perhaps even a little pride. I love my job, I know I am good at it, I know I made you well and you are the pinnacle of all I've strived for… and you are a bigger success than I could ever have imagined." _

That memory was a tainted one for Ren, it was a constant reminder that he was 'made', created by another's man's whim so he could prove he was 'the best'. Ren was a successful experiment, the epitome of one man's will. He couldn't help the resentment he felt for his maker- his 'father' because of this. He had told Kuu his feelings, he remembered the many unreadable emotions twisting his maker's face until it settled on a smile that did not qualify as 'happy', even though that was what his processors identified a smile as- an act of 'happiness'.

"_Then you truly are human. Or perhaps, closer to it than any one of us realize, including you."_

Ren had not understood, he_ still _did not understand. It frustrated him.

He returned his attention to Kyoko, testing the emotion he thought she was feeling. Confidence; it seemed fitting. It was obvious that she knew what she was doing, she also knew she was doing it well, otherwise she would not have been so unwavering. She was so absorbed, he thought perhaps his constant presence was temporarily forgotten. This made him feel lonely, an emotion he was well acquainted with, but hadn't felt for a long while- since meeting her in fact. He knew he was being foolish, he was right beside her- sort of- and when she'd fixed whatever was going wrong her attention would return to him as it always did, but he didn't like the thought of her forgetting him. Even for a moment. Even brief contemplation of such a thing sent a sharp intense feeling of-something- stabbing straight through his neural core. That caught his attention, it was familiar, he'd felt it before only fleetingly…

The rollercoaster. His internal processors froze in shock at the discovery. Fear. He was… _afraid _of her forgetting him, he fought against the illogical trail of thought but found it impossible. Now he was beginning to confuse himself. How confusing.

Perhaps this is what it means to be human? To have irrational fears, and confuse oneself while contemplating impossibilities- after all, Kyoko would never just forget him… would she? He knew he'd have to return to LME eventually, especially now that he'd made contact, however once he was gone, would she continue her life as if nothing had ever happened? As if… he'd never entered it?

Nonsense, he knew her better than that. She couldn't forget him, wouldn't want to. It was only logical. But-

Ren struggled with himself and his twisted thoughts and twisted emotions, all made chaotic by a fear that was unprecedented and illogical.

His sub processors cut his train of thought, storing it to his memory bank to prevent any short circuits.

R.E.N. did not know, he could not know at this point, that he was slowly being torn in half. A computer could never begin to encompass a human's mind and emotions or the constant changes and illogic which accompany them.

His current state was beginning to deteriorate, the many processors and subroutines which made up his mind and thoughts and emotions unable to compensate for his continual growth into a true _human _mind.

It's something even Kuu had missed in his making…

R.E.N. was slowly breaking.

**.**

Sho sauntered up the sidewalk, taking in the rows of condos with a derisive stare. They were nice sure, but they were small. Only two floors, three rooms and two bathrooms. What was the point really? He snorted as he stood outside Kyoko's complex, looking at the light blue paint, the mahogany door with it's stained glass window showing a picture of fairies and its quaint little brick walkway.

He had no doubt, everything about this place screamed Kyoko.

He walked up the path and glanced around, making sure he wasn't being watched before deftly picking her lock and making his way inside, being sure to shut and relock the door behind him. He paused a moment to absorb his new surroundings before abruptly realizing that there was a strange low rumbling coming from… somewhere.

He took a step towards the living room, and the inexplicable rumble changed, a loud resounding bark taking its place, the warning clear in it's tone. Then the rumbling- or rather, the growling- began again. Shotaro stared at the hulking monster before him in surprise, the last time he'd seen this brute it had been a puppy, maybe half the size it was now.

"Corn, my how you've grown. I didn't know golden retrievers were capable of reaching sizes which could rival a horse." He commented calmly. Hopefully Kyoko hadn't poisoned this poor dog with her hatred of him, after all, if not for Sho she'd never have gotten Corn to begin with.

The growling paused, and Corn stared at him apparently thinking hard on where he'd heard that voice before. The man took another step and Corn decided it really didn't matter, he was a trespasser. Corn wasn't supposed to let trespassers go free. He took a step towards the blond haired intruder.

Sho sighed, so this would have to be handled the hard way. How tiring.

**.**

Kuu and Yashiro stood side by side, staring out at a huge metal bird as it came in for a landing. Takarada stood behind them, in a plain suit and tie. This was a serious situation after all.

"When will you return?" He asked Kuu.

The man only shrugged in response, "so many different variables. It's hard to tell." His face was dark and bleak. Ren's latest systems check (which he'd done using his back door to the AI's programming) had given him some very troubling results.

He was worried to say the least.

"you mustn't waist time getting him back to LME, Phase II is now complete, we are ready, and from what you told me earlier, so is he."

"I know what I said Lory." Kuu's tone was clipped and held barely contained ire. He was all too aware he was racing against time, and nothing was in his favor anymore it seemed.

Yashiro turned his head at the announcers voice on the intercom saying boarding for B12 had begun. "that's us, Kuu."

The president watched them enter the terminal, a frown marring his features. Things were beginning to deteriorate rapidly. It seemed like only yesterday they had things perfectly under control. Now suddenly, nothing was. He stayed until their plane flew out of sight, heading for Japan.

Kuu leaned his head against his seat, closing his eyes. The one behind the scenes in this catastrophe had brought in Sho Fuwa, a player who would undoubtedly make things messy. The Armadillo Program was starting to develop faster as time passed, and R.E.N.'s development was so rapid his programs could no longer keep up with the constant shifts and changes as he evolved into something beyond AI.

If he were to be perfectly candid with himself he'd have to say that things were very, very bad…

And he was very, very scared.

But Kuu was never one to be candid, thank god. He'd have been a gibbering mess on the floor a long time ago if he was.

**.**

Ren wanted to know what it would feel like to go to work. To wake up in the morning and put on a suit and a tie, perhaps drink a cup of coffee to prepare him for the day.

He wanted to be able to walk through the door to his job and immediatly attract attention, "good morning"s and "hello"s and maybe a few smiles. He wanted people to look at him with respect in their eyes and ask for his opinions on things they did not quite understand.

Most of all, he wanted to feel 'confidence' like Kyoko did, because it made her look regal. He felt that she looked best here in her work environment. Perhaps she loved her job as Kuu said he loved his.

Such things were outside his grasp however. 'Love' was definitly a thing he could never obtain, nor understand... it was just far to...

Human.

**:To Be Continued/…**

If the ending was random... sorry. I'd wanted to show how ren's thoughts had completely shifted after his near break down into something slightly more AI like and contemplative perhaps less human like... if you get me... It's late I'm sorry, if you have problems understanding let me know I'll rewrite something so it's easier, or just explain it in a PM okay?

So this chapter twisted itself in a whole different direction than what I'd originally intended. Almost as if R.E.N. seized me from the inside and started the typing for me…

… I swear, I don't type them, they type themselves! But now you cannot hate me for what is inevitable in the future… in fact, I have the scene mapped out already in another document folder.

Evil foreshadowing there. Can anyone guess what I speak of? Probably. God I am a sadist aren't I? or maybe just a b**ch


	9. Unexpected Circumstances

**Standard Disclaimers Apply: I'm back and ready to go! Forgive my absence it could not be helped as my computer decided to scream F**K YOU!! (In case you missed the AN, my hard drive took a nice walk down death row.) If this chapter is off key let me know, I've lost all my notes and have not thought of this story in a long time. I have reread it don't worry, and I still remember my general thoughts on the direction of this story but I now have to pick it up from square one pretty much. Criticism is my friend.**

**.**

**:Restart/**

Sho snorted in irritation, wiping his hands off on his pants. Feeling a rather large tear on his thigh he shot a glare at the rattling bathroom door, vicious barks emanating from it in impotent fury. His once pristine white shirt also looked as if it had survived a shark attack, though there was very little blood to be seen. That monster had nearly ripped his throat out, but thankfully it had somehow recalled in its puny little brain who he was. That pause had been all Sho needed to grab the thing by the scruff of its neck and haul it into the bathroom nearby.

He looked around him, getting his bearings and resisting the sudden urge to burst into laughter. Everywhere he looked there were pastel colors and figurines of fairies and princes and princesses. How could one person change so little in all these years? He walked through the hall passed the kitchen, and into the living room, the difference gave him a feeling of displacement. The rest of the house was typical Kyoko, however, the living room was something else… a part of Kyoko in stark contrast to what he had always known.

It was something he himself had created, he felt as if he were getting a glimpse inside her head. This place was filled with pieces of Kyoko's personality, all similar and flowing together effortlessly, accept for this one room. This room was symbolic to the piece of Kyoko's mind which belonged solely to him, and him alone. Sho had made Kyoko who she was today, and he took great pride in the fact that for her, his existence could never be forgotten. Kyoko obviously took great pride in her skill as a hacker, a skill he had taught her.

A smug smile spread across his face as he walked towards the massive computer. It was all the latest technology, certainly what she had caused a slight ping of jealousy in him, but he'd never admit it to himself. He grabbed the keyboard and turned the beast on, waiting for it to boot. Whatever security she had on here could never be enough to stop him. If the thing he was looking for was on here, he'd have it in a millisecond.

As he started the process of cracking her computer something unexpected happened. Rather than tricking the computer into bypassing the passwords the entire thing seemed to freeze and then the screen went blank. Sho stared in astonishment and disgust, how could such a thing have happened?! He was an expert, no security program could beat his skill, and there wasn't one in existence smart enough to stop him. He glared at the computer totally nonplussed until a memory hit him like a punch to the face.

The Armadillo Program.

Sho stared at the screen in total awe as slowly, pixels came together to form a picture from the bottom up. His glare turned to a frown as the avatar completed itself, staring down at him. So _this _is what that demon was up to? Sho stared back at the image, his frown deepening with confusion.

"Who… are you?"

But… hadn't Reino said that it wasn't advanced enough yet?

**.**

Kuu was in a panic. That goddamn _idiot _Fuwa was throwing a wrench into his beautiful plans and he was powerless to stop him. The resources he had with him on the plane could do nothing to stop the skilled hacker from cracking Kyoko's computer. For a moment he had thought the Sec program would stop him, but as he saw exactly what had happened to it in the time he had not checked, true horror filled him. It had morphed itself faster than he had thought it could. It was almost indistinguishable from its original programming, having evolved and adapted to R.E.N.'s own program.

Kuu leaned back in his seat, his lap top falling to the floor at his feet as all his strength left him.

It was nearly impossible to distinguish the Armadillo Program from R.E.N. now… it had grown into something much more than a smart security program. Learning and adapting to all that made R.E.N. who he was, it had made itself into a near replica.

It had become self aware. Sentient as Ren was… but it had one really big, fatal difference.

**.**

Kyoko collapsed in her office chair, totally spent. Ren looked at her with concern, she seemed to melt where she sat.

"That was a total disaster, so much for uneventful." She turned to the mini robot spider and smiled. "I'm sorry Mr. Ren, I thought I'd have more time to talk to you and explain what I was doing but apparently my clients and Mr. Ogata had other ideas."

Ren crawled his way out of Kyoko's purse, tipping it over and spilling some of its contents out onto the desk and floor. "I'm sorry Ms. Kyoko, I was not paying attention." He watched helpless as she picked up the mess he had made, first cleaning up her desk then kneeling on the floor to retrieve the items which had fallen there.

"Its okay Mr. Ren don't worry! I should have taken you out, it was my fault!"

"But Ms. Kyoko…"

At this time on the other side of the office door a worker was passing by on her way to get some coffee. As she drew level with the door she heard a deep baritone voice come from the other side. It was a voice she did not recognize as one of the employees who worked with them, not that any of the male employees associated with Kyoko anyway. They were terrified of her. It certainly wasn't Ogata's voice; his was very fair and light.

Kanae quietly shuffled closer to the door, placing an ear against it to listen in.

"… it _was _my fault, I was not cautious enough when coming out."

"No, no! I should have helped you, it's my fault! Really it's only a small mess, easily cleaned up."

Kanae's eyes went wide. What on earth…?!

"Forgive me, next time I will be more careful."

"Mr. Ren, you are obsessing over something so small. Look, next time I will simply have you in another place."

That was enough for Kanae. Had Kyoko gotten a boyfriend without telling her?! And what's more… doing lascivious activities in her office?! She flung open the door, honestly expecting an imposter and her lover. What she got was something… different.

Kyoko was sitting at her desk, fiddling with her purse. There was no sign of the man she had heard just seconds prior. Strange movement caught her eye and Kanae nearly had a heart attack as she watched a spider like _thing _turn towards her.

Kyoko looked up in surprise, and quick as thought placed her purse between Ren and Kanae on her desk. "Uh… what's wrong Miss Moko…? Such an entrance! Is there another problem with some clients?"

Kanae stared at Kyoko frozen, her eyes slowly moving from her friend's face to her purse, which now hid the… thing… from her sight. "I thought… well, I could have _sworn_…" She pointed at the door, then at Kyoko. "Wasn't there… a man in here?"

Kyoko flinched a bit, and then attempted to hide it with a smile, " M-man? Miss Moko you know me! It's completely impossible for a man to be in here."

Kanae gave Kyoko's purse another weird look, and started in surprise when Kyoko suddenly leapt forward, holding something in place behind it. Kanae raised a brow, and stared at Kyoko expectantly.

Kyoko gave a nervous laugh; she hated lying to her friend more than anything. However if Kanae were to involve herself in the mess Kyoko had gotten into and got hurt… she'd never forgive herself. She sent Ren a warning glare, regardless of how curious he was to meet his first friend's best friend he could not. "Let's go get a coffee! It's been a long day and I'm bushed. Okay Kanae, let's go!" She jumped out of her chair, grabbing her friend by the shoulders and spinning her around making to walk out the door with her. Kanae looked as if she were gonna go without a fight but just as she were about to step out the door she spun around, escaping Kyoko's grip and running for the desk. Before Kyoko knew exactly what had happened Kanae was holding the robot spider in her hand, staring at it in astonishment.

"What the hell is this thing?!"

Kyoko sighed resignedly, "I suppose I couldn't convince you to just let it go? Please Kanae?"

Kanae looked at her friend with a frown on her face; Kyoko only used her name under the most serious of circumstances. Something wasn't right but she'd be damned if she didn't get answers. Kyoko knew this.

Kyoko sighed again, "I didn't think so…" She held out a hand towards the robot, "Miss Moko, meet Ren."

Kanae stared at the thing in her hands, "Ren? You named it? What exactly is it?"

"I am R.E.N., a Robotically Engineered Nuero-Intelligence."

Kanae jumped back, dropping the robot in fright in the process. That was the voice she had heard earlier! She looked around for its source but could see nothing. Kyoko had already run forward with a small squeak of fright, grabbing the thing from the floor and staring at it with worry, asking it if it were okay. When the same masculine voice spoke up again, Kanae realized it came from _it._

"That thing… responds to you?!"

Kyoko looked at her friend, worry still in her eyes, "Yes, of course! Please don't treat him so harshly! If this were to break…"

Ren had already realized the error in downloading himself to this body, obviously it was very fragile with all its parts… and if the main hard drive where he was stored was ever damaged... Ren did a self assessment, realizing that the robot had indeed suffered some damage. Worry flashed through his subroutines; his camera and his speakers had both short circuited, which resulted in his vocalizer suffering damage. He could not remain in this body, the damage could spread otherwise.

"Ms. Kyoko… I think it best… to take me out of here quickly…" Kyoko stared at her friend in horror; his voice was choppy and filled with static. The speakers were going in and out making it even harder to understand what he was saying. What was worse however, was the fact that his normally deep velvet tone was gone. Instead a horribly metallic and obviously computer made voice emanated from the robot. She didn't have to understand him to get the message. He had to get out. Now.

Kanae was asking a string of questions, all of which washed over Kyoko and faded into oblivion. Worry and alarm quickly elevated to total panic as she realized that the dinosaur she had on her desk was utterly incapable of holding her precious friend. She didn't have the time to take him home either, it was a half hour drive.

At that moment she looked at her human friend, the look on her face froze Kanae in place. She hadn't seen Kyoko cry since… "Miss Moko!" her voice cried out, "I need to use your computer, right now!"

Kanae stared after Kyoko's fleeing form, she felt as if her world was currently being turned upside down. Who was that person, and what was she doing with her computer? Kanae gasped in horror, _her computer!_

She ran out of the office after her friend, fearing for her high end computer's life.

**.**

The jet touched down in a private airport owned by a friend of President Takarada. Kuu was already at the hatch, waiting for it to open so he could start the race to Kyoko's home, and to his son. He tapped his fingers nervously on his thigh, thinking over what had happened. He thoroughly chastised himself on being so overconfident, obviously that had exploded in his face around the same time Sho Fuwa stuck his nose into things it didn't belong. He rubbed a hand over his face, to make matters worse something had happened to Ren, whatever it was had caused damage to his already failing processors, and completely shut down his back door. Ren and Kyoko would be on their own until Kuu could reach them. He had to hope Ren would be able to repair what he could.

As the hatch opened Kuu bolted down the steps without a word of thanks or even a glance at those around him, he raced for the car waiting for him and without hesitation jumped in yelling directions at the driver as he closed the door.

**.**

Kyoko ran three doors down to Kanae's office, sighing in relief at the newer high end computer, already booted up and waiting for use.

She pulled the usb cord out of her pocket and quickly hooked it up to the computer, then to Ren. She realized how badly her hands were shaking in the process, fear clouded her mind even as she saw the window with those familiar words pop up on the computer:

**Install Process Initiated…**

**.**

**Installing Physical Management Coding to your System… Complete.**

**.**

**Installing Subconscious Algorithms to your System… Complete. **

**.**

**Installing Main Consciousness Matrix to your System… Error!**

**Certain Files Are Corrupt! Continuing Installation…**

**.**

**Installing Main Personality Matrix to your System… Error!**

**Certain Files Are Corrupt! Continuing Installation…**

**.**

**Main Installation Complete.**

**Project R.E.N. Initiating…**

**Activation Complete.**

Kyoko stared in horror at the words on the computer. "Ren…?" She whispered.

Kanae stood at her friend's side, slowly piecing the elaborate puzzle together. Tears were flowing down her friend's face, and amidst the confusion in her mind, she placed a hand on Kyoko's back. It was all the could do at this point.

Her computer screen went blank, and with surprise she focused her attention on the weird image forming on it. Kyoko gasped with relief as the pixels slowly came together to form a very handsome American man.

Kyoko cocked her head at the difference in quality of his avatar on this computer. With out a graphic card his image was distorted and grainy. "Ren…" She whispered again.

The image moved, opening its eyes and sighing. "I'm here Kyoko, I cannot stay here however. This computer is only barely enough to hold me. I am going to transfer myself to your computer now, I should be able to work on repairs there."

Kyoko's face twisted at the alien metallic voice still coming from Ren, but she nodded, taking a deep breath and letting it out in one great sigh of relief. "Okay, see you soon."

Ren stared at her for a moment, trying to decipher why her face and voice were so different. He had to forcibly cut off that line of thought and attend to himself however, as his backup systems kept issuing warnings to his main matrix. With a quick goodbye, he stored the memory away to be attended to later, and started the process of transferring himself to Kyoko's home computer.

When she was sure Ren was safe as could be and gone, Kyoko turned to her friend, who was staring slack jawed at her computer. "Miss Moko, I have some explaining to do…"

"Kanae turned to stare at the friend she apparently knew nothing about, a glare cutting through the awe on her face. "Damn right! Was that really what I think it was?!"

**:To Be Continued/ **


	10. Inevitable

**Standard Disclaimers Apply**

**.**

**:Restart/**

Kyoko was speeding down the highway as she told Kanae everything that had happened. Coming clean about the fact that she had been lying to Kanae for years had been hard, and Kyoko had been close to tears yet again as she begged for Kanae's forgiveness. They drove along in silence for several minutes as Kanae tried to process everything that Kyoko had told her. It was a lot to take in, and it was almost impossible to believe a word of it. She couldn't have had the scene at work just a few minutes ago not transpired… Then again she would still be as oblivious now if it had not. She didn't like that. Kanae would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't hurt by her friend's obvious distrust in her. They had been friends for years and Kyoko had hidden something from her, when she had thought that they could tell each other anything… she looked down at her lap sadly. What else could Kyoko be hiding? Had she never truly considered Kanae a friend at all? Perhaps she had never really forgiven Kanae for her cold treatment of her so many years ago. She sighed lightly, and glanced over at the only person she had ever really considered a friend with a small sad smile.

"I'm sorry you felt you could not trust me, Kyoko… I promise never to tell anyone."

Kyoko voiced a small exclamation of surprise, looking at Kanae with wide eyes. Regret clouded her face a moment later, "no no Miss Moko! That isn't it at all! I trust you with my life, really I do! It's just… I made a promise to someone not to tell…"

With those words a weight was lifted from Kanae's heart. So it hadn't been that after all. She knew Kyoko too well. Even if she hated his guts, if she had made a promise to him, she wouldn't have broken it. She was that kind of person. She shared a small smile with her best friend, relief clear on her face. "I see. So he made you keep quiet…" Kanae hesitated a moment, knowing how dangerous a topic this could be, "… why though? Why would sh- _he _teach you something like… that?"

Kyoko's face went dark for a moment, a war of pain and rage being fought beneath the surface. Kanae could feel it coming, that strange ability of hers which only surfaced when she was truly angry. Just as quickly as the ominous feeling came it went, and Kyoko sighed, "I'm not really sure. I had always loved to tinker with anything electronic. I guess he thought I could be useful… I think… I was trained to be his helper, and maybe… his scape goat too. In case things went south." She gritted her teeth, her hands clenching the steering wheel as she fought back tears at such a pathetic confession. He had used her from the beginning; she had been blinded by her love, and let him. Truly pathetic.

Kanae looked at her with sad eyes… if ever she saw Sho again she'd unman him with her bare hands! Though… she'd be fighting with Kyoko to get to him first. She looked out her window at the blur of trees and sky, unsure of what to say to her friend when she realized just how fast they were going. She spun around to look at the speedometer with wide eyes and gave an involuntary yelp of fear, "Kyoko! You're going 30 miles over the speed limit!"

"Eh?" Kyoko pulled away from those taboo thoughts to stare at Kanae, who was gripping her seat with all she was worth.

"Don't look at me look at the road! _And slow the hell down!"_

"Ah!" Kyoko eased her foot off the gas pedal, giving Kanae an apologetic grin. She hadn't been aware of how fast she was going; worry for Ren must have made its way to her foot. "Sorry Miss Moko, I guess I'm eager to get home."

Kanae frowned, both guilt and worry flashing through her head. "I'm sorry Kyoko. This is my entire fault. If Ren…"

"No!" Kyoko clasped one of her friend's hands, "this is my fault! I never should have lied to you! If Ren… fails" she choked on that word, "then the guilt is mine and mine alone!"

Kanae winced a bit at how tight Kyoko was holding her hand, but let it go. She was genuinely worried for the AI, and not just a little bit. That in itself worried Kanae; she didn't want her friend to get hurt yet again. She placed her other hand over their clenched ones and looked out windshield.

They were almost there.

**.**

Ren settled himself in the familiar confines of Kyoko's computer, preparing himself for a full systems check. He mentally chided himself for what had happened in Kyoko's office, it was his own fault that he was now damaged. He had been curious to see the one Kyoko called 'best friend'. The woman was spoken of highly by Kyoko and he could tell she loved her very much. They had known each other for nearly two decades and had gone through many hard times together, how could they _not _love each other? They had a bond so deep and strong it was beyond Ren's understanding, he had only 'lived' for a little over two weeks after all, how could he fathom a bond forged by such an existential amount of time? He was overcome with several powerful emotions, they were so very complex and deeply intertwined in his thoughts, overlapping and confusing him as he tried to sort it all out in his matrix. He recognized dread, perhaps fear. There was affection he felt for Kyoko but also something else. An emotion linked to Kanae Kotonami and the bond he had seen between her and his friend… it was powerful, it didn't feel good at all though. Almost like the feeling of dislike but not quite the same… perhaps it had a twinge of possessiveness to it, something that vaguely shamed Ren. Kyoko was not his by any means… and he had no right to dislike Ms. Kotonami, he did not know her, beyond what Kyoko spoke of her, and everything she said was praise for who she was.

How could he 'dislike' a woman Kyoko loved so deeply? Why did he 'dislike' the fact that they had known each other for years? Why did he feel this strange, illogical emotion towards them and their bond? If anything he should be thankful for Kanae Kotonami's existence, which made Kyoko; his one and only friend's existence so enjoyable! And part of him _did_ feel that way… but it was a lesser part, much smaller than the part of him who _did not _like that bond… finally he had it, his sluggish emotional programming giving him the answer at long last.

Jealousy.

Ren sighed, a truly illogical emotion to have. He wondered at himself, questioning his own mental state. Such human responses from him were unacceptable… he was not human, and he never could be. He jerked his thought processors back to the problem at hand as his back up systems sent his main matrix another warning. Foolish thoughts would have to wait as he repaired himself.

Kyoko's face from minutes previous flashed through his mind, the wrongness of it worrying him even as he commenced his self diagnostic. Why did it look that way? All twisted and… wet. If Ren's avatar had been active it would have had a deep frown on it. His diagnostics were running slow, he knew it was his fault, his thoughts were off in several different directions, slowing his self check considerably. He tried to collect himself, to focus solely on his current predicament, but every time that face would come to the forefront of his central processor and he'd once again become distracted from his diagnostics. It was only when he ran across damages he had not previously been aware of; damages which were not caused by his being dropped, that he was finally able to store thoughts of Kyoko and focus all his processors on the problem.

His emotional programming kicked into high gear, flooding his central processors with fear and confusion as the results of his check became evident.

**Self Diagnostic Results:**

**Linguistics Component Heavily Damaged**

**:Initializing Auto Repair Sequence: **

**...Auto Repair Sequence Failed: Missing necessary file …**

**Main Consciousness Matrix Damaged**

**:Several Programs Are Corrupt:**

**WARNING! Immediate repair Necessary! Decay Spreading!**

**Main Personality Matrix Damaged**

**:Several Programs Are Corrupt:**

**WARNING! Immediate Repair Necessary! Decay Spreading!**

Ren was unsure as of what to do. He did not know why or even how his two Main Matrixes could have suffered such serious damages. When he tried to get to the source of the decay his diagnostics simply came back with Cause Unknown. The decay was indeed spreading, the slow breaking down of certain files was just slow enough and subtle enough for him to not notice until now. He fought back panic at the thought that he could very well be dying; that Kuu had missed something extremely important in his initial programming and that he was faulty in some way and completely irreparable. He calculated the rate of decay, trying to figure out how much time he had before the decay reached the most important files of his matrixes… the results sent sharp spears of fear through out his entire programming. At the rate of decay, he had one week before total shut down.

One week to live.

What would it feel like to die? That thought scared Ren, he did not want to die. He was not ready to face oblivion so soon after being activated. He wanted to continue experiencing new things with Kyoko, he wanted to see a sunrise as well as a sunset. He wanted to return to the amusement park and experience vertigo and dizziness and nausea. He wanted learn new things, explore new places. He wanted to talk more with Kyoko, learn all there was to learn about her, see her laugh and smile and argue and…

Amidst the pain and sadness, Ren finally realized what had been wrong with Kyoko's face. She had been crying, a physical manifestation of extreme sadness and pain. Ren's own pain could have been reflected in that heartbreaking image of Kyoko. She had been afraid for him, she had been crying for him, because she cared about him deeply. That helped to alleviate his own sadness and fear slightly. He placed Kyoko above himself and could not stand to think that she had made such a face because of him.

Pulled away from his own pain by that of Kyoko's, Ren's emotions shifted to something else, something utterly unidentifiable. It was pleasant and made him feel good, but his emotional processors could not identify it. It was far to complex, something that had never initially been programmed into him, but had formed there on its own. It had grown as Ren had grown, fueled by his closeness to his new and unexpected friend. It was close to the feeling of friendship, but stronger somehow. A mixture of awe and fondness and camaraderie… but so much more, and so much more powerful. Ren tried to focus on it, to distract himself from his own reality, however he realized the harder he focused himself on this strange unidentifiable feeling, the faster the decay moved. The complexity of something which was never meant to be there overloading his processors.

Ren froze with shock, he had accidentally identified the source of the decay. That emotion… whatever it was, was the cause for the breakdown. It was far to complex a thing for his Central Processors to take in and so it was overloading his systems. Somehow, something had happened to him in the time he had been with Kyoko to cause this fatal… glitch.

Ren was very confused, how could something so deadly feel so good? How could something that was never meant to be part of his systems exist? Such a thing was impossible. The illogic of it all made Ren very angry, the emotions of pain, sadness and anger were potent… but stronger than that was the feeling of utter and complete helplessness.

Only one thing was certain for him, he could never allow Kyoko to make such a painful face again. Not because of him at least, and so he would not tell her of this development. He wanted to see her smile and laugh for him before he shut down permanently. He didn't want his final memories of her tainted by the knowledge that he was causing her pain and sadness.

**.**

Kyoko threw the car into park and turned it off, not even bothering to grab her keys as she leapt out and ran for the door, Kanae followed just a heartbeat behind, just as eager to know the status of the AI. Their progress however, was waylaid by the presence of Chiori. She was standing outside Kyoko's door with a worried look on her face, when she saw the duo she ran to meet them speaking as she went. "Oh, Kyoko thank god you're here! I tried calling but you wouldn't answer your phone!"

Kyoko frowned at her, worry for her friend tempered by curiosity as to the reason behind the urgency on Chiori's face. "What is it Miss Chiori?"

Chiori fidgeted, glancing at Kanae and then at Kyoko's door. "Kyoko there was someone inside your home earlier. I only saw them leaving so I couldn't stop them but it like he had taken some sort of device…"

Kyoko's body flooded with ice cold fear, a very new kind of panic filling her as she grabbed Chiori's shoulders and shook her, "what did he look like? What did he take?! How long ago was it?!"

Chiori fell back in surprise at how powerful a reaction her words brought. "W-well… it was an hour or so ago… H-he had blonde hair, um… he was tall too. I think he had a pretty boy face, but I can't be totally positive as I only caught a side view…" Kyoko hadn't stayed still long enough to hear all of what Chiori said. She was already running for the house, throwing the door open so hard its doorknob lodged into the wall and stuck there. She made to run straight for the living room when a whimpering sound to her right distracted her.

Worry for her dog had Kyoko nearly ripping the bathroom door off its hinges, but that worry was quickly mollified as Corn jumped up on her, licking her face and whimpering some more. "Good boy Corn, I'm sure you tried to stop them."

She turned back towards the living room her two friends now right behind her as she made her way to her computer. Both Chiori and Kanae gasped at what they saw there, neither had expected quite what they saw. Kanae had only learned a short while ago about Kyoko's alternate life and Chiori had never known the extent of the technology at her friend's fingers. She was slightly jealous of her, but that was dampened by the worry she now felt.

Kyoko turned the computer on and sat in her chair, grabbing the keyboard and entering her password quickly. They all waited with baited breath as it booted up. Kyoko could hardly breathe, and Kanae and Chiori both had their heads cocked in curiosity.

Ren's avatar popped up almost immediately, locking eyes with Kyoko he smiled gently. "Kyoko it's okay. I'm okay… however I cannot fix my linguistics component unless I get a certain file from LME."

Kyoko had never been so happy to hear that metallic and false voice emanating from her speakers. She laughed with relief, wiping away a few tears which escaped her eyes. Ren frowned at her reaction, which held very conflicting emotions on it.

"Why do you cry?" He asked.

Kyoko laughed again, euphoric to know that her friend was still here, and just the same as ever… though she missed that velvety voice of his, "Sometimes people cry when they are happy, or relieved. Not just when they are sad."

His frown faded slightly, a smile fighting at his lips now, "how illogical."

She smiled brightly, "Yes, there is nothing logical about us though is there?"

Ren shook his head no, then realized they had company when Chiori (who seconds before had been frozen solid with shock, her jaw falling through the floor) gasped and nearly shouted, "What the hell is _that_?!"

Kyoko flinched, wanting to beat the hell out of herself for being so careless with Chiori, when she suddenly remembered the reason for her presence. "Ren apparently there was an intruder in my house, if you are here then what did they…" Kyoko trailed off as Ren's face slowly shifted from a half smile to surprised shock.

"Shit!" He muttered, and suddenly there were several windows of code held in his hands like cards. He searched through them fervently until he came to one which made him frown. His lips twisted in a sneer as he threw the window at the screen, enlarging it so Kyoko could clearly see what it said.

When Kyoko absorbed the enormity of what had happened and who was responsible she gritted her teeth with rage, a whispered "Sho…" from behind her setting her off.

Several knickknacks exploded as Kyoko screamed in rage, "Shotarooooooo!!!"

Chiori read the message aloud in a confused whisper, "You'll always be second rate…?"

Prince was gone.

**.**

The limo came to a stop in front of a line of condos, the driver looked over his shoulder; "We are here Mr. Hizuri."

"Thank you." Kuu replied. He grabbed his briefcase and got out, looking at each door until he spotted the right one, then making a beeline for it.

As he approached the door he could hear many strange and concerning noises coming from behind it. Shattering porcelain and glass, as well as shouting, he thought he may have even caught a bit of a computerized voice but he was unsure. Was he too late then? Could that be Kyoko's enraged 'ability' flaring up because her source had gotten the Armadillo Sec Program _and _Ren? There was no time to waist.

He knocked on the door and waited several minutes, when no one came he knocked again, thinking they may not have heard him over their raucous. When his knock was greeted with total silence the second time he sighed. Either they weren't paying attention or they were being very unwelcoming. With a shrug he simply let himself in, following the sound of voices in conversation until he came to the living room. He paused for a moment, taking in the rather surprising sight while no one seemed to notice him.

He smiled at Ren's image on the computer, he'd missed his son! His smile was immediately wiped off however when his son began to speak, and the horrible sound emanating from him was _not_ the perfect and beautiful voice he had given him.

"What on Earth have you done to my son?!" He barked, immediately conversation stilled as all eyes fell on him.

Kyoko hadn't missed the use of the word 'son' and so assumed he was the maker of R.E.N. She closed her eyes and bowed her head in shame and acceptance.

Ren simply sighed.

**:To Be Continued/...**


	11. Unravel

**Standard Disclaimers Apply: Feedback on this chapter would be greatly appreciated! I'm unsatisfied with it… I feel Ren and Kuu's interaction was very ooc, but I couldn't think of a way to change it… if enough people declare it is too ooc then I will endeavor to change around the first half to the best of my ability! Thanks guys!!**

**.**

**:Restart/**

Kuu glared down at Kyoko silently waiting for her response, though he seemed to give off a hostile aura, Kyoko could not feel it. Instead she felt nothing at all from Ren's maker.

"Kuu," that grating voice emanated from Kyoko's high end speakers. "Please stop this nonsense. We have more important matters to attend than this." The golden haired Adonis glared down at his would-be father, a frown of disapproval clear on his digital face.

Kuu pulled his angry glare away from the cowering girl in front of him and directed it at Ren, "That's no way to speak to your father!" in an instant Kuu's angry demeanor faded and a pout took its place. "No respect from kids these days!"

Ren grit his teeth, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "You are the one acting childish. I know you are up to something, and your scheming has placed Kyoko in danger."

Kyoko peaked up at the intimidating gentleman in front of her, confusion coloring her face. Were all Americans this… bipolar? She took in his blonde hair and brown eyes, eyes which seemed warm and loving- not at all mean or vengeful. The gentle lines at his mouth and eyes denoted a face quicker to laughter than anger, and he emanated an aura of perpetual confidence and calm. When the man redirected his attention to her, catching her stare she blushed, but didn't look away. The anger which she had seen on his face and heard in his voice but had never felt was completely gone. Instead there was only amusement, though she could tell he felt deeply chagrined.

"Kyoko, I'm Kuu Hizuri. Ren's father you could say. I'm very sorry about all this." He said. Then in English he added in a pensive voice, "I really did bite off more than I chew with this one…"

"I hope you choke on it." Ren grumbled, then reverting to Japanese, so that everyone could understand he told Kuu of what had transpired. Showing him the message the hacker had left in lieu of the Armadillo program.

Kyoko continued to watch the strange American carefully, hoping to get a grasp of his personality and thoughts. It did not escape her notice that everything Ren said to him was accepted without a hint of surprise or anger; Kyoko's eyes narrowed slightly, "you already know all of this right?" She said in English, "How?" Her English was almost perfect, though not rivaling the two Americans' grasp of her language, which was foreign to them; there was barely a note of an accent. She wanted him to know that resorting to his language wouldn't throw her off. Though, admittedly she didn't know what he meant by biting and chewing. He had nothing to eat on him.

Strange Americans and their strange expressions…

Kuu stared at her for a moment, his eyes boring into hers as if searching through her very soul. Just as quickly as his intense scrutiny started, it ended. A bright smile was on his face, and Kyoko questioned if she'd seen things right. "Well well well, Ms. Mogami… that talent of yours really is something isn't it? Truly unique."

Kanae and Chiori looked at each other, confusion all over their faces. Unlike Kyoko they didn't speak English, though Kanae prided herself on her grasp of French. Both of them were still trying to recover from the information overload Kyoko had already given them. And the arrival of the American only worsened the situation for them.

Seeing her friends' chagrinned expressions Kyoko smiled at them, apologizing before continuing the conversation in Japanese again, "how much do you know?"

Kuu placed a finger on his chin, a small mischievous smile on his lips. "As a matter of fact… I know everything." Behind him on the massive computer screen, Ren's avatar shook his head and huffed. "I've been following all of your movements from the moment you stole Ren from the LME mainframe."

At that the avatar stiffened, his look of irritation flowing into one of suspicion. A moment later Ren was holding a screen in his digital fingers with code streaming across the face. "You've been spying on me." The look on his face made Kyoko quail before him. This was the dark side of Ren's code, the Demon King. Kuu broke out in a sweat, though he hid it with a smile. "You had a spy bot inserted in my code! You've been watching everything I do- everything I think, the whole time!" Ren's avatar shattered the screen in his hands, a visible representation of what he did to Kuu's precious back door.

"It was only a means of protection! A way for me to find you in the event you were somehow hijacked! And that's exactly what ended up happening."

On the computer screen the background faded from white to black, spreading from Ren's avatar like a dark fog. The look on his face was positively terrifying, a look so vicious it had the group of humans fearing for their lives. "You did this on purpose. You knew everything did you not? About Kyoko Mogami and her mysterious partner, their plan to take me… You used Kyoko as a means to perform experiments on your greatest accomplishment. You knew her; somehow… you knew she would do the things she did. And you wanted to see what affect that would have on me. You have been right there, watching everything! My every thought and emotion…" His voice trailed off and Kyoko absently noted that the combination of the look on his face and his broken, emotionless electronic voice could almost be comical, if it weren't down right terrifying.

Kuu was visibly leaning away from the screen; there was no smile on his face now. Kyoko could feel the remorse and sadness rolling off of him in waves. "You've misunderstood son, please-"

"I am not your son!"

Kuu flinched slightly, and Kyoko could feel the pain that sentence caused him. "Ren please calm down. You need to give me an opportunity to explain myself, there is much more to all of this then your skewed interpretation." Ren glared down at him silently, "I'm sorry that I invaded your privacy s- Ren. It was rude of me to do such a thing, but please give me a chance to tell you why… Ren you know time is running out."

Kuu held the avatar's eyes, trying to convey his message without saying it out loud. Surprise colored the digital face, lessening the intensity of Ren's angry glare. "You know…"

Kuu nodded once.

Kyoko looked between the two, sensing that she was missing something extremely important. She cocked her head and threw Ren a questioning glance before asking aloud, "Know what?"

Another look passed between Maker and Creation before Kuu turned to her, a smile gracing his lips once again. Kyoko noted it didn't reach his eyes. "I know who's behind the theft of the Armadillo Program as well as the identity of your little partner. You should pick your friends more carefully."

Kyoko frowned, "the one who took Prince was Shoutaro Fuwa… are you telling me that he was my partner all along?"

A knick knack exploded near to where Kuu was standing, causing him to look around in shock. He finally noticed the wreckage in the living room. There was a shattered mirror and several shattered pictures, as well as many shards of other knick knacks who had met their demise earlier. Amusement tinged his voice as he said, "no, Sho Fuwa simply works for him also."

Everyone fell to the floor covering their heads as the glass of the mirror and several windows exploded. Ren's anger was completely forgotten as he looked on at what was happening in the living room. He was suddenly very grateful that (whether intended or not) the computer had been spared from the demolition. He finally understood what Kyoko had meant about her anger, she truly was a wonder. He never believed that such a thing were possible, then again it wasn't the first time the girl had changed his perceptions of life and was possible and impossible. "Kyoko is this necessary? Now you have destroyed your home, you will be wasting our time cleaning the mess you made, instead of learning all that Kuu knows." Regardless of his opinion of her, this reaction truly was foolish. Why react to such news with anger? What was done was done and though she could not change it, she could certainly fix it… If she stopped making the house explode that was.

Kyoko gritted her teeth; it was unbelievable that she had been working with that person! Her partner was working with Sho also which made Sho partners with her! It was unacceptable! Had that demon thought her incapable? Did he think Sho Fuwa was better than she? She remembered the message left behind in the wake of Prince's disappearance, _you'll always be second rate… _he had walked right into her home, bypassed all her security and taken a Sec Program which was supposed to be unbeatable.

The cold hand of dread and loss squeezed her heart, sapping all her anger away. She truly had been bested by him.

Ren's irritation slowly grew; the girl was ignoring him completely. "Kyoko, stop this now."

He noticed movement at the far reach of his camera's peripherals and swiveled to see Kuu walking towards her slowly. He had a strange look on his face, like understanding and sorrow. Just as Ren was about to call out to Kuu to demand what he was doing, Kuu raised a hand and slapped Kyoko across the face none too gently. Surprise had Ren frozen completely still as he watched on.

As Kyoko turned her head to look up at her assailant, Kuu leaned down to be eye level with her. Staring at her intently he said in a voice both soft and intense, "will you sit there and give up? Will you allow him to have the last laugh? Stop pitying yourself and wake up! Ren needs your help to fix what you have started, will you sit there and let those two get away with this?"

For the span of a heartbeat, no one moved or even breathed. Ren watched on in fascination, unsure whether to be angry at Kuu for touching his friend in such a violent manner, or grateful to him for freeing her from her dark thoughts. Slowly Kyoko moved a hand up to her red cheek, never breaking her gaze from Kuu. As her fingers touched the tender skin there, life flooded her eyes once again and she gave Kuu a small grateful smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Hizuri. You are right… I will not submit to him! I will show him just who is second rate!" She held her fist up, shaking it in the air in front of her, "you better watch your back Shoutaro! I'm coming to take Prince back, and I'll show you just how far I can bury you in the dirt of my success!"

**.**

Sho sat in his car, tapping a hand impatiently against the steering wheel, while the other held a strange box like device with several blinking green lights and a USB port. It was a unique device, something he had created himself in the case that he should ever come across something to massive to store on a disc. This was the first time he'd put it to use.

He looked at the nondescript grey box with a self satisfied smile on his face. He wondered how Kyoko reacted after realizing that, not only was he closer than she had thought, but he was still capable of outdoing her at every turn. This amazing little program he held in his hands had referred to itself as Prince, a designation it claimed Kyoko had given it. Sho snorted, of course she would give it such a name, but the fact that it was self aware shook him to the core. A sentient program was a thing he had never thought possible, the implications were endless and the possibilities infinite.

But what was Reino up to? _That _was a problem. Sho did not want to hand this treasure trove over but he knew if he took it and disappeared it'd only be a matter of time before Reino caught up with him. The man was an excellent tracker, it was almost abnormal.

As if summoned by his thoughts the very man he was waiting for pulled up behind him in a shiny yellow Porsche, it made Sho want to gag. What a freak.

They both got out of their vehicles, walking towards each other with wary footsteps. It was no secret they detested each other, however a series of unfortunate events thrust them into an uncomfortable partnership of sorts. They each needed the other for their specific talents; it benefited them to withstand the other's presence.

Sho held up the nondescript box, a smirk on his face. "What are you up to Reino?"

Reino snatched the item from his hands, holding it up to his eyes like it were the greatest thing he's ever laid eyes on. A smile spread across his face and a wave of nausea hit Sho at the sight. There was nothing at all pleasant about Reino.

"Good job Sho, maybe you do still have more talent than my precious Kyoko."

Sho's indignation flared, hating to be compared to her on any level. "What exactly are you planning?"

Tapping the box against his lips, Reino made a quick hand gesture as he walked off into the massive building they were parked in front of. Grinding his teeth, Sho Fuwa followed.

Ten minutes of extremely uncomfortable silence later, they were in a room with several networked computers. Without hesitation, Reino walked over to the closest one and connected the box. He sat in a chair with a smug smile as the download began initializing.

All at once, the computer screens went blank. Many colored pixels began forming together to create an image, an avatar for the Armadillo Security Program. Reino looked almost like a kid, nearly bouncing in his chair with excitement, and laughing too.

Only, Sho noted, no kid would sound that twisted. He shifted uncomfortably, giving his unwanted partner a look of disgust before turning back to the image forming in front of him.

Moments later, a male figure stood in the center of the screen. He wore a black business suit and red tie, Sho couldn't help but note how handsome the figure was. He beat down the spark of jealousy; this was just a _program_ after all.

Reino leaned forward, "Hey!" He called out.

From under black bangs, eyes nearly as dark opened to stare at him. "What do you want with me?" The figure asked. Its voice was smooth and deep.

Sho glanced around the room in surprise. On every screen the face of the avatar stared out at them, eyes questioning. It was slightly unnerving to see the same visage on every screen of every size, all with their eyes pinned on them. He frowned and looked on Reino, "Exactly what do you want with it?"

Reino ignored him in favor of asking the program a question, "What do you call yourself?"

The digital man cocked his head slightly, "I am called Prince."

Reino frowned, "typical." He whispered. "Very well Prince, I want to ask you questions about your programming."

The avatar frowned, "My programming? It is modeled after the program called Project R.E.N."

"It is exactly like his?"

The being was silent a moment, completely frozen with its head cocked to one side. "No," it said a moment later. "He is more advanced than me. My original programming is still present."

Reino nodded, that sick smile still on his face, "Good." He turned to Sho, "This is where you come in."

Sho frowned, "What?"

"I need you to… adjust some things for me."

Sho's jaw dropped, "you want me to rewrite his programming?" He stuttered a moment, "Something as complicated as that could take months!"

Reino shook his head, "Not all of it, just… tweak certain aspects."

"What the hell are you planning Reino?!"

Reino's smile grew as he stood up and walked towards Sho. Slowly he held his arms akimbo, "I plan on presenting the world with the very first AI to ever be created. And in so doing, become one of the richest and most powerful men on Earth." He began laughing, "And I will start my plan… by eradicating the original." He glared at his partner, "Get working."

**:To Be Continued/…**


	12. The Reason Why

**Standard Disclaimers Apply: Late again I know. But my promise stands, I will finish it.**

**

* * *

****:Replay/**

Kyoko picked up a tiny porcelain leg and sighed yet again. This sad little remnant was part of her favorite Tinker Bell ornament. Moko-san had given it to her for her 11th birthday. She tossed it into the half full trash bag she was holding with all the other victims of her anger from earlier. She was still mourning the loss of many precious knick knacks, many of which had been even older than the Tinker Bell ornament.

Lounging back in Kyoko's chair, Kuu watched as her face slowly grew ever sadder with each broken piece she picked up. "Are you saddened by the loss Kyoko- chan?"

Kyoko stopped and turned, looking at him and both her friends standing near him. No one was helping her; Kuu had said that it was all her doing, so she would be the only one to clean. Kyoko had accepted that as just punishment, it was her fault after all. "Yes… I miss them already. Their presence was soothing."

Kuu nodded, "They meant a lot to you didn't they?"

Kyoko nodded.

"Then why did you destroy them so heartlessly?" Kuu pinned her with a suddenly intense gaze.

Taken aback by his words, Kyoko's eyes widened and she took a step back, "I-I didn't! It was only an accident-"

"An accident? You were angry yes?"

Kyoko nodded helplessly.

"You felt the need to vent that anger… yes?"

Once again Kyoko could only nod. She already knew where this was going and she could feel the shame of it burning her cheeks.

"You vented that anger on the things around you, mercilessly shattering your precious ornaments to appease that anger right?"

Kyoko gasped, "No! I didn't do it on purpose, I-"

"But you did, didn't you? You can control that unique ability of yours."

Kyoko hung her head, "Not really…"

Ren's avatar stood with his arms crossed and face unreadable. He could understand what Kuu was doing, and in this at least, agreed with him completely. Kuu glanced his way before returning his unwavering attention to the girl before him, "but you can. Your computer is completely unharmed. Unlike everything else."

Kyoko sighed, resisting the urge to flinch, "I get so angry that I cannot think straight…"

"That anger is a liability. Is it truly worth it to hate a person so much that you destroy your own precious things and place your friends in danger?" Kuu glared at her now, "You could have destroyed Ren in your uncontrollable anger. You could have hurt one of us in that explosion while you were not thinking straight. Is that worth it?"

Kyoko shook her head over zealously, horror clear on her face. "I would never hurt Ren! Even through my anger I tried not to let it get to the computer."

"And what of us? We can still be harmed right? Shards of glass and porcelain can hurt us just as much as shattering the computer could hurt Ren."

Kyoko swallowed, her look of horror growing. "I'd never! I couldn't ever possibly- Moko-san! Chiori-san! I apologize! I never meant to-"

Watching as the girl stumbled over apologies and her face slowly grow more and more horrified, Kuu let out a small sigh and smiled. She was a good girl; she was just a bit… eccentric in some areas. "Kyoko."

His admonishment made the girl freeze and redirect her attention to the man. "Yes, Mr. Hizuri?"

"As long as you understand, I don't think there's any more need to linger on the problem. Finish cleaning up, we have far more important things to worry about than this."

Both Kanae and Chiori decided to help Kyoko to speed things up. The mess was so great they sensed that it would take Kyoko hours single handedly. As Kyoko went about the repetitive and mindless duty of picking up broken pieces and throwing them into a trash bag she let her mind wander to the man in her computer.

His existence never failed to awe her. The ingenuity, the care and the time that went into creating him must have been massive indeed. She snuck a glance at Ren's 'father'; that man had devoted his entire life to bringing Ren into existence, because of that Kyoko was able to meet him and become friends with him. She appreciated him and respected him more than she'd ever admit. She really couldn't imagine a life without Ren at this point. That thought made Kyoko pause, what if she never did get to see him again. She turned to Kuu, fighting back the fear nawing at her gut. "Mr. Hizuri?"

Kuu gave her a questioning look, one eyebrow quirked.

Resisting the urge to fidget, Kyoko took a deep breath and dived in, "Mr. Hizuri when this is done, will I ever see Ren again?"

Kuu looked between the fearful face of Kyoko and Ren's avatar, who was now listening intently. Kuu knew even if he said no, Ren would find a way to see her anyway- he had a look of utter determination on his face again. He shifted in his seat and looked at Kyoko, who had failed in her fight against fidgeting in his prolonged silence. "Kyoko-chan may I tell you a story?"

Thrown off by his odd response Kyoko stared at him for several moments before nodding.

Kuu smiled and gestured at his son, "Have you ever wondered why Ren looks the way he does?"

Kyoko shrugged, her face betraying her complete confusion, "He is the Fairy King."

Kuu smiled indulgently, already aware of her fantastic imagination. He stole a quick glance at Ren who wore a carefully blank expression; he could tell he was fighting not to laugh. "That would be one reason, yes…" He ignored Ren's sudden scoff, "However Ren's original outline was to be more Japanese, in respect to my heritage."

"You're Japanese?"

"Half Japanese. I had wanted Ren to reflect that, simply because I love the Japanese culture."

Kyoko looked at Ren, his bright blue eyes and golden hair were not Japanese like at all. "What happened?"

Kuu's gaze turned to Ren; however his sight was far away. A deep sadness leaked into his smile and voice, "Something unexpected happened. I had just completed mapping the programming for his psychological core into the computer he was stored in at LME, my team and I were celebrating the end of the outlining stage and the beginning of activation when I got a call that changed everything."

Kyoko frowned, she could feel the atmosphere become heavy with pain and sadness as Kuu fell further and further into the past.

He cleared his throat before speaking again, "it was my wife's doctor. She had cancer. A very rare and advanced form of leukemia." He cleared his throat again, "She died only three months later." His voice was choked with unshed tears.

Kyoko could barely stand under the weight of his pain. She moved over to him, and forced herself to put her hand on his shoulder and look him in the eyes. She held back sobs of her own as she apologized to him. "I understand now why Ren is so important to you. It's not because you created him, but he really is your son right? He's all you have left of your beloved wife."

Kuu smiled at the brilliant young woman before him, allowing her calming hand to push back the demons of the past rising inside him. "Yes, though it was frowned upon by my boss and other team members, completing Ren became an obsession. I desperately needed to finish the project I had started so long ago for my beloved wife." He looked to Ren, whose shell shocked expression almost made him laugh, "My wife was barren, she couldn't have kids of her own, and this is how the idea of Ren was sparked so long ago. Though originally I'd wanted to name him Kuon.

"Corn? Like my dog?" Kyoko's eyes lit up.

Kuu really did laugh then, "No, K-U-O-N. I guess it would sound like 'Corn' to you in Japanese. In the end I had to change it though. Couldn't find a good acronym for it."

Ren shook his head at that. "So because you couldn't have your own children you created me? Why didn't you do what normal people do and go adopt one then?"

"Julie found it infinitely amusing that we would be trading positions in the world of child bearing. She got to sit back and watch while I struggled through creating him."

"Sounds like a group of lunatics to me," Kanae mumbled.

With that everyone started to laugh, even Kuu managed a small chuckle. "Get back to work Kyoko. We have a lot to do, and very little time."

Kyoko nodded and glanced in Ren's direction before returning to cleaning up her living room. She didn't say anything after that, tuning out the hum of conversation around her. Her thoughts were on Kuu's story, and what that meant for her and Ren.

He'd never answered her question.

A cold and unfamiliar emotion gripped her heart like the foreshadowing hand of doom. She knew that the attachment she held to Ren was stronger than it should be in such short time of knowing each other, but she couldn't- and did not want to- change that. Come what may, she wanted to be by Ren's side, and he at her's.

**/To Be Continued...**

**An Interlude chapter that gave me almost as much hardship as the one that came before, and the one coming up. Ouch.**


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